A Change of Seasons
by UnderAGlassMoon
Summary: When Asuka was given a precious chance to go back and set things right, she quickly discovers the past is becoming something completely new in itself. Unsure of what is to come, Asuka lives a different past which is slowly becoming her new future...
1. Prologue

1. Prologue

The last thing Asuka Langley Sohryu remembered was her right arm splitting in half right in front of her eyes. After that, she saw the ghostly figure of Rei Ayanami staring at her from above before everything turned a brilliant white. A feeling of weightlessness overcame the young German girl and she felt herself moving towards something above her. She was no longer in the confines of Unit 02 which had been brutally decimated at the hands of the Eva Series. She wasn't even in her plug suit anymore, instead being stripped of her clothing by some unknown force. Even the A-10 neural clips in her hair had disappeared as she felt herself rising.

_Am I…dead?_ Asuka thought to herself. She looked at her right arm and it was there, all in one piece. She blinked her eyes and she could see with both of them. In fact, it seemed her body retained no injury that she had received during the battle with the Eva Series. _Impossible…I must be dead, _Asuka thought. _Those damn white demons…the things they did to my Unit 02…mama…even though I had mama on my side, I still lost…I'm worthless._

In an instant, the brilliant white light was gone and Asuka found herself in her school classroom, dressed in her school uniform. The windows on the left side of the class were open and a cool breeze gently blew into the room. She was sat behind her desk yet the rest of the desks were unoccupied and there was no teacher. "What the hell?" Asuka said to herself, looking around. She stood up and went towards the windows and looked outside, only to see something completely unexpected. Instead of the school parking lot, she saw a beach with a greyish, harsh looking sand. What was even more surprising was that it wasn't water, but a blood red liquid instead that washed onto the shore.

"What is going on here?" Asuka asked, backing away from the window. She felt very afraid, because nothing made sense. At one point, she thought she was dead and now she was in her school classroom with a mysterious red ocean outside. She turned around and headed for the door, only to find that it was locked. It was then Asuka assumed she was still dead and this was some ghostly vision. However, she didn't _feel_ dead. In fact, she felt very much alive. Everything seemed so real. When she touched the window, she felt the cold glass begin to stick to her hand. When she tried to open the door, she felt the resistance of the lock, keeping her inside that classroom. Everything responded liked it was real. So why was she here after she thought that she had just died?

Asuka felt a compulsion to sit back in her seat which she did, not sure why she did or what it was in her making her feel the way she did. After taking her seat behind her desk, she heard the door unlock. It slowly opened, revealing a teen about her age with the same skin complexion and the same red eyes as Rei Ayanami. He had long grey hair that seemed natural for him, despite his age. He was wearing the same school uniform that Asuka always saw Shinji in, yet she did not recognise him. "Ah, you must be Asuka," the boy said. He stood in front of the teacher's desk with his hands in his pockets and a smile planted on his pale skinned face. "Who are you?" Asuka asked.

"I was your replacement after you lost contact with her soul," the boy replied.

Asuka felt angered by the boy now. He was the one who corrupted her Unit 02 with his presence? "What do you want with me? Have you just come to gloat?" Asuka inquired, not hiding her resentment.

"Of course not. That would be very rude of me," the boy said with quiet laughter. "In fact, I was killed by Shinji and Unit 01 so there isn't much to gloat about."

"Shinji _killed_ you?" Asuka asked in surprise.

"I was the Fifth Child, Kaworu Nagisa to him. When he learned that I was an angel, things changed."

"Whoa, hold on! You were the Fifth Child _and_ an angel?"

"That is correct. I happened to grow close to Shinji before I had to do what I had to."

"Which is to destroy humanity, huh?"

"It was my task, yes. But after spending time with Shinji, I thought that maybe humanity deserved to live more than I did which was the reason I had Shinji kill me."

"So you're dead then, right?" Asuka asked.

"Physically, yes," Kaworu replied.

"So does that mean I'm dead?" Asuka next asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. Think more of it as a period of transition," Kaworu explained. "It is a transition the whole of mankind is currently undergoing. It is the Human Instrumentality Project which is being implemented at the moment."

"This is weird," Asuka muttered. "So you're speaking to the whole of humanity at once or something?"

"No, I came personally to you," Kaworu replied with the ever present smile still on his face. "Shinji is speaking to Rei at the moment who is the vessel body for Lilith."

"Lilith, the Second Angel," Asuka noted.

"That's correct. The mother of all life. Rei is very much like me. This body, the body of Kaworu Nagisa is only a vessel body," Kaworu explained.

"Let me guess, of an angel?"

"Again, correct. I am the vessel of the angel, Adam."

"Wait, hold on," Asuka said. "You're Kaworu Nagisa, but you're also Adam? That can't work…that doesn't make sense!"

"Adam is in my body. I act on the will of Adam. However, I still retain everything that made me Kaworu Nagisa. It is likewise for Rei," Kaworu said. "The reason any of this is possible is because the forbidden union of Adam and Lilith and instigation of the Human Instrumentality Project."

"It doesn't really explain anything to me and I still don't understand but I'll go along with it. Next question, why have you come to speak to me personally?" Asuka asked.

"It's because I feel I owe you," Kaworu answered. "You gave me the opportunity to learn what it is that defines a human being. I learned what it was that gave them strength and the will to live. I learned about abstract things like love and wondrous things like music. It was under your unfortunate circumstances in which I was presented this opportunity but it was something you gave me nonetheless which is why I feel indebted to you."

"I see," Asuka said.

"Because of this, I think you deserve an extra option. You can take it or leave it, but if you don't chose to take this offer, then the fate of humanity rests with Shinji and your future depends on his decisions," Kaworu said.

"An extra option?"

"Yes Asuka. I'm giving you the option of going back to before you arrived in Japan. A chance to try and make things right for yourself. This is an opportunity that I am not supposed to be able to give but seeing as I am able to do it just this once, I feel that you are the one to take it."

"Going…back? You mean, back in time, before any of this happened?" Asuka asked frantically.

"Yes, back in time. This is only possible due to the union of Adam and Lilith and the time window in which it is possible is quickly running out," Kaworu replied. "So, does my offer tempt you?"

"It does…but what is the catch?"

"Catch? There is no catch. Your actions may change the course of history, but that is to be expected," Kaworu pointed out.

"Then I'll do it," Asuka said.

"Very well," Kaworu said. "Use your time wisely, Asuka."

"I…I will. And Kaworu…thanks."

"You're very welcome. I should warn you however that if we meet each other, then I won't be as friendly as I have been now. I won't know this ever happened. You, on the other hand, will."

"Okay, I understand."

"Good. Then I bid you farewell, Asuka Langley Sohryu. And be sure to say hello to Shinji for me..."

* * *

Asuka felt a chill in the air. It was dark and she was standing against a railing, watching the horizon as their ship raced through the waters south of India in the centre of a massive UN fleet. "What are you doing out here on your own? I thought you were in your cabin," said the familiar voice of Ryoji Kaji. Asuka turned to face her guardian and felt lost for a reply. Instead, she turned away again, looking over the railing. "Is something the matter?" Kaji asked.

"Leave…leave me alone for a while…please," Asuka said, her voice a cold whisper like the night air that surrounded them.

"Okay, sure," Kaji said. "Don't stay out too long, okay? It's pretty chilly out here. Also, if you need to talk, I'll be in the crew room."

"Okay," Asuka said without facing Kaji. He soon left Asuka on her own, leaving the girl to face her thoughts alone.

_What just happened to me? Was all that…real? _

Asuka looked at her right arm and saw that there was nothing. No marks, no scars, no reminders of anything happening. As she looked inside her mind, she found that she could remember everything. All the events that took place after she first fought an angel were memories. However, they were memories of the _future_. None of that in her mind had taken place yet and the young German girl struggled to get to grips with it all. _I've got a second chance at it all, but I don't feel happy about it. I feel…empty. I feel the same way as I did when I lost the ability to pilot my Unit 02. The feeling of being lost, _Asuka thought.

Suddenly, the thought of Unit 02 sparked memories of her mother. Knowing that Unit 02 was being transported in this fleet, Asuka knew she had to go to it. The knowledge that her mother's soul resided within Unit 02 might spark a change for Asuka and she needed to be there beside it. She walked away from the railing and up to the flight deck to see if there were any active helicopters. Sure enough, there was one. Its landing lights were on and there were crew members standing around it. Asuka approached the crew and asked, "Are you guys flying out anytime soon?"

"Uh, yeah we are," the person who Asuka assumed to be the pilot responded. "We're just doing a sweep around the convoy."

"Can I ask a huge favour?" Asuka next said.

"Okay, shoot."

* * *

The helicopter crew obliged to Asuka's request, despite it beginning to get very dark. The crews often found themselves with nothing to so ferrying Asuka around wasn't too big a deal for them. After stepping off of the helicopter, the wind began to pick up, making Asuka regret the choice not to take some form of outdoor clothing. Her t-shirt and jeans combination were hardly much against the weather conditions of the night that the UN fleet was traversing through. She quickly made her way to the cargo bay of the ship, getting herself out of the cold. The lights were off and Asuka searched for the switch to reveal the contents of the cargo hold. Once she flicked the switch on, the large lights along the upper part of the walls of the cargo hold opened in sequence, bringing light to the once dark space. In the centre of the bay, amidst a pool of coolant was Evangelion Unit 02.

_There you are, _Asuka thought as she made her way towards the red Evangelion. _But this time, I know the secrets you've been hiding from me._ The walkway atop the coolant was hardly steady, not helped by the increasingly choppy waters of the Indian Ocean. Asuka didn't care however, moving towards Unit 02 with determination in her every step. She lifted the cover off of the unit to reveal the massive, four-eyed head of her Evangelion Unit. Looking at it, Asuka felt no connection. When she moved forward to touch it and thought about her mother however, she could feel something. It was the same feeling she had felt when she discovered her mother's presence in Unit 02 in her fight against the Eva Series except this time, that battle was long yet to happen.

As she felt her mother through the cold armour, she also felt the Eva becoming alive. Without a pilot or being started up, the four eyes of Evangelion Unit 02 lit up and the Eva began to shake violently. In fear, Asuka took her hand off of Unit 02. In the instant following taking her hand away, the Eva once again became static. _Mother…you're still there_, Asuka thought as she took a step backwards. Deciding that she had seen enough, she turned for the exit, knowing already what time had to tell.

* * *

Kaji was in his cabin, talking over a satellite phone. The line was encrypted such that even the intelligence officers on that ship and indeed that convoy wouldn't be able to listen. It caused a slight delay in the transmission and receiving of the phone signal but apart from that, it was an almost flawless method of secure communication.

"I take it that the passage through the Suez Canal proceeded without event?"

"That's correct," Kaji replied to his current employer. A man of Kaji's skills was highly sought after, causing him to free a bit more freer with his commitments. "The next possible hotspot is when we pass through maritime Southeast Asia tomorrow, although I don't expect that to be a problem," Kaji added.

"Well, keep me informed. I don't want anything at all impeding the delivery of the package."

"Okay, sure. On another note, did the operation to remove Jet Alone from the map go according to plan?" Kaji inquired.

"Everything went according to plan except for a minor detail, but it is insignificant as it did not affect the overall outcome of the operation."

"Little details can often make big differences, you know," Kaji pointed out.

"That does not concern me."

"Very well. I guess we'll just have to wait until we make port to complete the delivery," Kaji said.

"On that note, I shall be assisting you once you get within a reasonable distance of Japan with added support for Eva Unit 02 in the form of a power supply, as well as a spare pilot should an emergency with an angel occur."

"If that happens, I might just have to leave ship by plane, despite how much faith I have in Unit 02's pilot," Kaji chuckled.

"Do whatever it takes to deliver the package successfully," said Kaji's employer before cutting off the connection. Kaji placed the satellite phone on his desk and sighed. He was slightly worried about Asuka's sudden change of mood and what the cause may have been. Usually, if she had been down about something, she would show it through anger and hide the fact that she was sad. Today was a seemingly normal day in Asuka's world with her in a jubilant mood the entire day. She even said when she went outside on the balcony that she was going to enjoy the night air. When Kaji went out to check on her, she was suddenly downtrodden. He didn't understand why, but her let her be. She was, after all, a teenage girl and perhaps they went through phases like this. However, it was just how quickly her mood had change which had Kaji worried. He shrugged it off, knowing that Asuka would be back to her usual self the next day.


	2. Alternating Timelines

2. Alternating Timelines

"Hey Asuka," Kaji said at the breakfast table. Asuka looked up at Kaji slowly from her bowl of cereal, having not spoken for the entirety of the morning. "You remember Misato, right?" Kaji asked. "Well, she's coming onto _Over the Rainbow _with a power supply for Unit 02. As well as that, the Third Child will be with her so you can finally get to meet him."

_I get to meet him, _Asuka thought. _Knowing already takes away any feeling I would have. Even after going to Unit 02 and feeling my mother's presence it's still like I'm devoid of any feeling._ The girl nodded slightly at Kaji's statement before turning her head to the doorway that led out of the ship's canteen. All the crew members entering appeared to be dripping wet. It was odd for Asuka, considering that she remembered the day she met Shinji as a gloriously sunny one.

After breakfast, she left the canteen with Kaji who was quick to urge Asuka to quicken her pace in the open. "Come on, we don't want to get soaked!" he said. The pair ran off to their cabins amidst the pouring rain, trying to keep their time exposed to a minimum. They made it under a roof upon entering a large hallway leading to their cabins. "The helicopter should be arriving later on today," Kaji said. "It's a shame about the weather, but we'll make the most of the meeting."

"Okay," Asuka said, uttering her first word to Kaji for the whole morning. "Can you get me when they're arriving?"

"Sure Asuka," Kaji said. "By the way, are you okay? You haven't said much this morning."

"I'm just tired…that's all," Asuka lied. "See you later, Kaji."

"Okay, sure thing Asuka."

Asuka entered her cabin and once her door was shut, she leaned back against it. _Rain…it wasn't supposed to rain…what is going on?_ Asuka thought to herself before sighing. There was hope that she would simply be reliving the past with the opportunity to change certain events in the hope that the outcome wouldn't be a negative one. However, things were changing already and maybe her actions up to now even had an effect on what was happening now. Asuka even considered the possibility that maybe she wouldn't be reliving the past, but experiencing a whole new past that hadn't been envisaged before. That option was the most frightening, leaving Asuka as vulnerable to whatever the future presented as she was before.

Then again, it could just have been coincidence. Asuka had lost track of how long they had been travelling and maybe they were arriving a day earlier or later. However, that implied that indeed events were changing. Even if they were arriving on the same day as they had before, the weather was different. No matter how Asuka looked at it, it simply seemed that things were not the same this time around. That was a fact that was quickly becoming evident which was ruling out the possibility of coincidence. It was also a fact that had Asuka increasingly worried about how much she could actually do apart from hang on for the ride.

She spent the morning lying in her bed, reading a book that she had brought along for the trip but hadn't opened until that day. It had been several days since Asuka had gone to Unit 02 and ever since she had made no effort to emulate her former self, becoming reclusive and quiet. It had Kaji worried but Asuka didn't really care at the moment. She needed to get to grip with her new reality and it wasn't happening as quickly as she would have liked. Until such a time, Asuka would continue to keep to herself.

She read for several hours before a came knocking from her cabin door. "Asuka, it's Kaji. The helicopter with Misato and the Third Child has arrived."

"Okay, I'll be out in a second," Asuka said. She headed to the set of drawers across from the bed and looked at what clothes she had to wear. Amongst the various items of clothing, she saw that yellow sundress she had worn in her first meeting with Shinji Ikari. Looking out of the porthole of her cabin and seeing that the rain was still falling heavily, she went against wearing the sundress, again seeing that events were transpiring differently little by little. Asuka remained uneasy as she rummaged through her clothes for something suitable for the weather. More and more she felt that her meeting with Shinji Ikari would be a sort of defining moment for this new timeline she found herself in.

* * *

Asuka followed Kaji up to the bridge where Misato, Shinji and presumably his two friends would be waiting. Kaji made his appearance first which was followed immediately by a cry of despair from Misato. "Hello everyone," Kaji greeted. "And you as well, Misato."

"I…I wasn't expecting to see you here," Misato growled, struggling to hide her annoyance. She immediately began to ignore Kaji and turned her attention to the redhead following him. "Ah, Asuka. It's been a while. You've grown quite a bit," Misato commented.

Asuka managed a smile and said, "I have, haven't I? It's good to see you again, Misato."

"Likewise," Misato said. "You must be anxious to meet the Third Child. Without further ado…"

"Oh my gosh!! I can't believe I'm on a Nimitz class aircraft carrier!" cried Kensuke Aida, one of Shinji's friends which Asuka had known as of one the three stooges.

"Stop waving that camera around! You almost hit me in the face!" Toji shot out, another of the three stooges.

Asuka chuckled and automatically said, "Don't tell me it's one of them." Her words came as even a shock to her. Maybe there was still a part of the old Asuka left in her after all. "No, they're his friends," Misato said with a smile.

"Is he allowed a camera in here?" asked the Captain of the ship, looking over at Kensuke in despair.

"Uh, I'm not sure," his Executive Officer replied.

"Asuka, meet Shinji Ikari, the Third Child. Shinji, meet Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child and the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 02," Misato said.

"A pleasure to meet you!" Asuka said, suddenly happy to see him again, although it would be a first for this Shinji. She extended her hand towards Shinji who looked at her hand for a moment with a puzzled looked. "Um…hello," he said weakly, leaving Asuka's hand where it was.

"What? Have you never shaken hands with a girl before?" Asuka asked.

"Ah! Sorry," Shinji said, shaking Asuka's hand nervously.

_This is strange, _Asuka thought. _When I meet Shinji, I'm suddenly flowing with confidence again…maybe I rediscovered how much of a weakling he is. Is that it? I'm not sure_.

"Are you done with this high school convention?" the Captain inquired irately.

"Sir, may I remind you that these children are the designated pilots of their respective Evangelion Units and are a credit to the UN forces, as is your fleet," Misato said, keeping her patience rather well. "I ask for your patience as well as your support in transporting Unit 02 to Japan."

"Bah, are we not already ferrying that toy for you? We have done that much," the Captain remarked bitterly.

"And for that, you have NERV's gratitude," Misato said. "However, in an emergency, NERV's military authority supersedes you own which is where the power supply we brought is necessary. Here are the specifications for it."

The Captain of _Over_ _the Rainbow_ scanned through the document Misato handed over and scoffed. "You expect us to provide that at your desire?" he asked.

"When required, yes," Misato said.

"Argh…very well," the Captain says. "We will have it installed when the weather improves."

"Thank you, sir. Again, you have NERV's gratitude," Misato said, happy that she got her way.

"Now that that's sorted out, how about I treat you to some lunch?" Kaji asked. Misato immediately turned her head away from Kaji, trying to show her intention that she was not going to speak to Kaji. Shinji spoke on her behalf, "Uh, lunch sounds nice."

* * *

Kaji, Asuka and Shinji sat at one side of the table while Misato, Toji and Kensuke sat across from them. Not many words were exchanged and Kaji continually attempted to nudge Misato's foot with his own. "So, are you seeing anyone, Misato?" Kaji inquired.

"It's none of your business!" Misato snapped.

"That's a shame," Kaji noted. "Hey, Shinji. You're living with Misato, right?"

"Um, yeah?" Shinji said. "Why?"

"Does Misato still so…wild in bed?" Kaji asked.

There was general shock and horror around the table. _I guess that much is the same,_ Asuka thought.

"I was wondering," Shinji said, "how do you know my name?"

"Oh, everyone has heard about you in our line of business. Shinji Ikari, the famous Third Child who piloted the Eva without any combat training," Kaji said.

_Yeah, this is still the same Shinji, _Asuka thought. _Maybe I should speak to him and find out more about him. It wouldn't hurt, I guess_. Asuka turned and glanced over at Shinji before looking down at her empty plate. _But isn't an angel supposed to attack today?_ As they stood up to leave after eating dessert, Asuka approached Shinji and said, "So, the famous Third Child, huh?"

"I don't know about famous," Shinji said with a weak smile.

"You did pilot the Eva without training," Asuka said. "I want to hear all about it. Let's find a good spot to talk." Shinji turned towards Misato as if looking for permission. "Hey, that sounds like a good idea Shinji. You can get to know Asuka better which would be helpful on the job. If you need me, Asuka will know where we are," Misato said with a smile.

"Okay, sure," Shinji said.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Follow me!" Asuka said.

Asuka led him to that same place she found herself in after being brought backwards in time. Things were different thought and Asuka couldn't help but still feel disconcerted by the fact that it was raining when it was supposed to be sunny. "So, tell me, how did you do it? How did you beat the first angel you came across without training?" Asuka asked.

"I…" Shinji said before pausing indefinitely.

"Well?" Asuka continued.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Shinji said.

"You rather not talk about it?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow. "Then it's definitely worth talking about."

"It's…it's a long story."

"Stop your whining and tell me the goddamn story!" Asuka snapped.

Shinji sat there with a shocked expression on his face. "Uh, if you really want me to…I guess I could," Shinji said weakly.

"Yes, I really want you to. Tell me already!" Asuka cried.

"Looking back at it…I'm not really sure how I did it…I just did," Shinji said. "I had been summoned to Tokyo-3 by the Commander of NERV, my father, and I didn't know what was in store for me. When I got there, the angel was already attacking the city and Misato drove me to safety. That was, until I got to NERV headquarters where I was forced to pilot Unit 01. When I launched, I had barely gotten my Eva walking before I was attacked by the angel. The rest is a blur really, but I don't think I was in control."

"You weren't in control? You mean the Eva…was piloting itself, almost?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Shinji replied.

_That makes sense, _Asuka thought. _There is more to Eva than I would have ever thought. It's almost alive and has the ability to act of its own will. Another question; is the soul of Shinji's mother in Unit 01? Is that the reason that it goes berserk? I mean, I've seen Unit 01 berserk before but my understanding is greater than ever before. Maybe this will help unravel the mystery_.

"What about you? How is…piloting the Eva for you?" Shinji asked nervously.

"Well, I've not been in combat, idiot!" Asuka cried. "It's just been plain sailing for me."

"Training?" Shinji inquired.

"And synch tests, and harmonic tests, and live fire exercises, and simulated combat, and survival courses. Everything I could possibly need," Asuka said, remembering her training days well. "If you think about that, it puts it into context how difficult it is for me to imagine you piloting the Eva with no experience whatsoever. I mean, you didn't even know what Eva was until that day, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Shinji said.

"And for that, you have my respect and admiration," Asuka said with a smile, hoping to be better friends with Shinji this time around.

"Um, thanks," Shinji said. "I…I look forward to working with you."

* * *

The day went by without incident which had Asuka on edge the following morning, internally at least. She had found a new confidence that allowed her to be more like the old Asuka which had Kaji relieved. He watched as the UN fleet closed in on dry land from a balcony at the bow of the aircraft carrier. He had a cigarette in his mouth and the ashes blew away with the warm, coastal winds. "So Kaji, what are you really doing coming here?" asked Misato, who appeared beside the man.

"I'm Asuka's guardian so of course I've had to accompany her across from Germany. It's a long trip by boat, you know," Kaji replied.

"Something tells me you're lying," Misato said, moving forward to lean against the metal railings and breathing in the air.

"You know me too well, Misato," Kaji said. "The truth is I'm being transferred to Tokyo-3. My services are required there."

"Oh great," Misato muttered. "Now I wish I hadn't asked."

"You wanted the truth and I gave you it," Kaji chuckled before glancing over to the NERV Operations Officer. "You know, you're still as gorgeous as ever."

"Shut up," Misato snapped. "I can just leave, you know."

"Please don't," Kaji said with a smug grin.

"Whatever," Misato muttered irately. "Listen, I want to know how Asuka's taken to meeting Shinji. I want those two to work well together."

"All business, are we?" Kaji asked. "Why not enjoy the view?"

"I'm being serious, Kaji," Misato said.

"I think she likes him," Kaji said. "She said that she had a talk with him about his famous first battle with an angel with no combat training and would like to become friends with him if possible."

"That sure seems different from the Asuka I used to know," Misato noted.

"It's definitely different from the Asuka I know," Kaji pointed out. "She changed halfway through the journey and I don't know what it was that did it. She became really quiet and depressed for a while. In fact, she brightened up as soon as she met Shinji."

"That is odd," Misato said. "Well, as long as she's good to go now, that's all that matters."

"Her mood has been a lot better. She seemed to want to spend quite a bit of time with Shinji," Kaji said. "I daresay she might even _like_ him, if you know what I mean."

"Asuka? Not a chance," Misato scoffed.

"Like the chance I have with getting with you?" Kaji inquired.

"I'm leaving," Misato said, turning around and walking away.

"Nice to speak to you as well," Kaji laughed before taking one last pull of his cigarette before tossing it away. It was good to be approaching dry land and the quicker he got of the ship, the quicker he could make his delivery to the Commander of NERV. That was his real mission, but he couldn't possibly tell Misato that.

* * *

Asuka watched from port as Unit 02 was slowly unloaded from its transport vessel onto dry land. From here, it would begin its journey to NERV HQ in Tokyo-3. It was a relief to see it there but Asuka couldn't help but feel worried that because they had not been attacked by that angel at sea. It meant it had to attack some other time but until then, Asuka tried to make herself relax and feel happy at the fact that they were in Japan now. "Well, here we are Asuka," said Misato, who had Shinji and his two friends in tail. "Welcome to Japan. It's never been the same since Second Impact, but it's still pretty good."

"They say that about every country," Asuka said. "Still, it's good that long ship journey is finally over."

"Good to hear," Misato said. "Now Kaji said he'd be here shortly with transport for us to Tokyo-3."

Sure enough, Kaji arrived at the scene with a SUV configured to have 7 seats instead of the usual 5. "Hey you guys, hop on in. Next stop; Tokyo-3," said Kaji.

"What about Asuka's Unit 02?" Shinji asked.

"There's a NERV crew here getting ready to transport the Eva by air," Misato replied. "Hell, it might even arrive before we do. Anyway, let's go. I could use with getting back."

As soon as Misato stepped in the car, a massive crash was heard as Unit 02 came smashing into the ground. "What the hell?!" Misato cried. The red Evangelion had been knocked off the cranes in the shipyard by what looked like a gigantic cross between a squid, whale and shark lying on the wreckage on what was Unit 02's transport vessel. "Is that…an angel?" Shinji asked in astonishment.

"Holy crap! It's coming this way!" Kensuke cried, filming the entire event. It was a terrifying sight, seeing this massive beast move towards the car like a seal on land. "Get in the car, NOW!" Kaji roared as he prepared to go. There were no questions asked as the SUV received all its occupants. Kaji then put his foot down to get them as far from the shipyard as possible.

Asuka glanced back, horrified that when she was thinking about the angel attacking, it appeared. "It's moving back into the water!" Toji cried.

"It's moving back to its element," Kaji noted. "My guess it that it'll be heading for Tokyo-3 using any waterway available." Misato was in the process of making a phone call using her mobile phone. "Ritsuko? It's Misato. Listen, we have a situation at the shipyard…You've heard? Okay, get Rei launched in Unit 00 and get Unit 01 ready for Shinji as soon as we arrive…What? It's still getting repairs? Shit. Okay, equip Unit 01 with C-Type Underwater Combat Equipment and have it ready for launch…Unit 02 was attacked by the angel when it was being offloaded from the transport ship. The recovery operation is already underway…No, there's no chance that we could used Unit 02…okay, fine. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay? Thanks a lot, Ritsuko."

As soon as Misato hung up, Asuka asked, "What are we going to do about my Unit 02?"

"The angel has left the vicinity shipyard so we'll continue to operation to get it transported to Tokyo-3. The only issue is whether it sustained damage or not on its fall from those cranes. Either way, I don't think you'll be able to take part in this operation, Asuka. Sorry," Misato said.

Asuka sat back in her seat and wondered if this could have gone any more differently. This certainly was not what she expected. _How am I meant to be able to make a difference if this happens? This is so messed up! _Asuka thought angrily.

"Misato…what are we going to do?" Shinji asked.

"Kaji is going to get us to Tokyo-3 as fast as possible. As soon as we get there, we're dropping your friends off at the nearest shelter and heading for HQ. You'll go underwater to engage the angel in Unit 01. I'm not too sure how to go about it, but we'll find a way," Misato explained. "Ideally, this angel would have waited a few more days to attack, allowing Asuka to take part in the operation. I guess we learn that things are never ideal in this line of work. How long, Kaji?"

"If the roads stay empty like this, give it another half hour," Kaji replied.

_I feel absolutely helpless, _Asuka thought. _Once again, everything rests on Shinji's shoulders …why could I never just at least empathise with him? I always called him the 'Hero' Shinji, but maybe that's more accurate than I would have thought…_

* * *

"Commander Ikari, are you saying that you currently have no means of engaging the angel?" a UN general asked angrily.

"Our pilot is en route," Gendo replied. "He, along with my operations officer were accompanying Unit 02 and its pilot at sea. They were attacked whilst at port by the angel."

"This is not good enough, Ikari," another UN general chided. "Do you not have any other Evangelion Units?"

"Unit 00 is currently going a complete armour replacement after sustaining heavy damage against the last angel," Gendo replied. "Until Unit 01's pilot arrives, we have no means of fighting the angel."

"So what do you propose we do?" a third general asked.

"Have aircraft stationed over Lake Ashi equipped for anti-submarine warfare, as well as stationing artillery batteries around the lake," Gendo said. "It will buy us some time for our pilot to arrive and launch."

"Agreed," said the third general, who was also the most senior.

"What? How can you agree?! Are you possibly sacrificing those soldiers' lives simply because he needs _more time_?!" the first general raged.

"We have no other choice!" the third general yelled, louder than the first, dropping an uneasy silence over Central Dogma. "We have to do everything in our power to assist NERV. It may mean the difference between winning and the death of mankind."

The first general was still absolutely furious, but chose to suck up his pride and said, "Understood."

"Very well. Ikari, we'll provide two squadrons of aircraft plus an artillery battalion," the third general said.

"Is that level of manpower necessary?" the second general inquired.

"I would provide more if I had more notice," the third said. "Ikari, you better hope that you're ready by the time that monster arrives at Lake Ashi, because you know our forces don't stand a chance."

"I understand. You have my regards for your assistance," Gendo said.

The three UN generals promptly left, leaving Gendo alone with the deputy commander. "It's not like you to lose face and ask a favour," Fuyutsuki noted.

"It was necessary," Gendo pointed out. "This angel caught us at the worst possible moment."

"Perhaps your distribution of manpower was misjudged," Fuyutsuki said.

"Unit 02's pilot is untested in combat. It was necessary to have an experienced pilot on board that UN fleet just in case," Gendo explained.

"Could you have not sent Rei instead? Unit 00 is currently unusable for combat, whereas Unit 01 is. You could have left Shinji here on standby," Fuyutsuki said.

"Perhaps," Gendo said. "But I made my decision based on getting the package our agent was delivering safe and undamaged."

"Adam, the first angel," Fuyutsuki noted.

"There is no doubt that the angel attacked the port because of Adam's presence and is following our agent to Tokyo-3," Gendo said. "Of that much, I am certain."

"Let's just hope your son can defeat the angel as soon as he arrives," Fuyutsuki said. Gendo didn't reply, but simply looked at the large display at the front of Central Dogma, displaying the position of Kaji's SUV and the angel on a map showing the land south of Tokyo-3. Unfortunately, the angel was racing ahead, despite being restricted to the rivers of the area leading up to the Hakone region.

* * *

"The target should be entering Lake Ashi at any moment."

"Roger that, I see the wake of the target. ETA to Lake Ashi, 1 minute." The VTOL aircraft were hovering above the lake, awaiting the arrival of the angel. The mood amongst the UN pilots was tense, as well as amongst the soldiers who manned the artillery batteries several kilometres from the lake. "30 seconds to target reaching Lake Ashi. All units, weapons free, I repeat, weapons free."

"Roger that."

The aircraft armed their depth charges and torpedoes in anticipation of the angel's arrival into the lake. "The target has entered the lake." As soon as that report had been made, all hell broke loose. Dozens of depth charges were dropped into the lake, causing massive underwater explosions and causing huge amounts of water to fly out above the lake surface. The next phase of the attack was the torpedo attacks where dozens of the weapons were unleashed upon the angel. Again, the mere sight of the attack was violent in itself as the sounds of torpedoes detonating seemed to meld into one continuous explosion.

After all the torpedoes had been fired, there smoke was allowed to clear, so to speak. There was a periods of edgy silence as the angel seemed to have stopped moving. They could see it under the lake; it was a clear day and the water was easy to see into. They didn't know whether it was alive or dead however, which was the crucial question.

Suddenly, the angel shot out of the water, using its huge size to reach into the air, catching one of the UN aircraft off guard. The aircraft was swallowed in the gargantuan mouth of the angel, causing panic among the remainder of the two squadrons there. "Pull out, pull out! Let the artillery boys do there thing!" As the aircraft retreated from the airspace above the lake, the artillery batteries let loose, beginning a barrage on Lake Ashi, hoping to at least put a dent in the seemingly impregnable armour of the angel.

* * *

"Holy crap," Kaji noted as he closed in on Tokyo-3. They were within a few kilometres of the city when they heard countless artillery guns firing all at once. "What are they doing?" Toji asked.

"They're barraging the angel with artillery!" Kensuke cried. "I can see them from here! Man, they've really giving it all they've got! I mean, there are M110A2 Howitzers, Type 74 and 75 self propelled artillery, M270 MLRS launchers, FH-70 towed artillery, everything!"

"How does he know all this stuff?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Too much spare time," Toji replied.

"Kaji, take the next right!" Misato ordered.

"Are you sure that's the right way?" Kaji asked.

"It's a shortcut through a maintenance tunnel," Misato explained. "Uh, I use it when I'm running late."

"Typical," Shinji said with a disappointed shake of his head.

"Shut up! It's useful, okay?" Misato snapped.

"What about us? I thought you were taking us to a shelter?" Toji asked.

"On second thought, we don't have enough time," Misato pointed out. "And besides, NERV HQ is as safe a place as any." Then Misato glanced towards Kensuke and the recording equipment he was currently using. "Although I'm going to have to take your camera off of you," Misato said.

"Hey! I need that!" Kensuke cried.

"Not in NERV HQ you do," Misato said. "You'll get it back once you get out."

"Damn!" Kensuke muttered.

"Here we are!" Kaji said, driving into the tunnel. "Jeez, it's dark!"

"Just follow it down. It's a straight line so just floor it!" Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Kaji said, happy to oblige. Misato turned her attention to Shinji who had to be ready to fight the angel in its own backyard. "Okay Shinji, are you sure of the operation?" she asked.

"I think so," Shinji said. "But how am I going to kill the angel? I've never taken an Eva underwater before."

"I'm not so sure," Misato said. "I don't think any of the Eva's gun type weapons will work underwater."

Suddenly, Asuka saw an opportunity to at least try and help with the knowledge she possessed. "Hey, the angel…it had a mouth right? If the core of an angel is in the centre of its body, then maybe you can get to the core by going inside this one's mouth and blowing it up."

Misato's face lit up, "That's a brilliant plan Asuka! I wonder why I hadn't thought of that! All Shinji has to do is cause a large explosion inside the angel by going through its weak spot, being its mouth! An N2 mine out to do it!"

"An…N2 mine?" Shinji asked nervously. "Are you sure that's necessary?"

"We don't want to take any chances with anything smaller! So Shinji, all you have to do is get the angel's mouth open, toss the N2 mine inside the angel's mouth and wish it goodbye! Simple!"

"Yeah…simple," Shinji muttered.

"I'm glad you agree!" Misato said. "Kaji, slow down and watch out for the wall. When you get there turn left then right."

"I thought you said it was a straight line!" Kaji said as he pressed the brakes.

"It's pretty much a straight line. I thought it was and I ended up nearly crashing into that wall," Misato explained.

"Well, that's good to hear," Kaji said.

Within five minutes, the SUV was parked in a NERV parking lot and everybody was running into headquarters. Time was a commodity quickly running short. Misato was the first to enter Central Dogma where Ritsuko was waiting. "Where's Shinji?" was the first utterance out of the blonde doctor's mouth.

"I'm here, Dr Akagi," Shinji said, who was right behind Misato.

"Get yourself suited up and in Unit 01 as quickly as possible," Ritsuko ordered. Shinji nodded his before running off to prepare to launch. Ritsuko sighed, feeling the stress mounting before noticing Asuka. "You must be Asuka Langley Sohryu," Ritsuko noted. Asuka nodded her head. "I'm Dr Ritsuko Akagi, head of the science division here at NERV. I apologise for your arrival not being under less chaotic circumstances."

"It's okay, it's nobody's fault," Asuka said.

"What's the situation with the UN forces?" Misato asked.

"The aircraft have pulled out because of the artillery barrage but it appears that they're running short on ammunition. Once they've depleted all the rounds that they have, I'm sure that those artillery crews won't think twice about hightailing it out of the area. We're pretty much on our own," Ritsuko answered.

"Do we have any N2 mines?" Misato next inquired.

"An N2 mine? Yeah, one or two. Why?" Ritsuko asked.

"Because the plan involves an N2 mine right in the mouth of that angel," Misato said.

"I see. That will probably work if Shinji can pull it off," Ritsuko said. "And if the C-Type equipment holds up."

"What do you mean?" Misato asked.

"We haven't had much time to check and fine tune the C-Type equipment. If it fails underwater, then I don't know what we can do," Ritsuko pointed out.

"It won't fail. Shinji will pull it off," Misato said confidently.

"Always the optimist, Misato?" Ritsuko chuckled.

"Someone has to be," Misato said with a smile, although it was far from comfortable.

* * *

Asuka watched nervously from Central Dogma as the technicians hastily went through last minute launch checks. "This is the first time Shinji has fought underwater, huh?" Kensuke asked.

"I think so," Toji said. "Shinji's strong…he'll pull it off."

"I hope so," Kensuke said. "I mean, remember the last time we saw him…that was close."

"Don't talk about that," Toji snapped.

Asuka had heard the entire conversation and asked, "What about the last time you saw him?"

"Huh? Oh, we, well, um, ended up inside Shinji's Eva with him…" Kensuke began.

"Long story, you don't want to know how we ended up there," Toji added.

"As I was saying, we were in Shinji's Eva and he was fighting this big, red, scorpion, snake like angel with huge glowing tentacles! Misato told Shinji to retreat as soon as we got in the Eva but he attacked it anyway with his knife. Just as the angel died, Shinji's power ran out," Kensuke explained.

"It was a close call," Toji noted.

"Was that his last battle?" Asuka asked.

"Nah, he had another one after that, but Shinji doesn't talk about piloting Eva," Toji said. "We know it's hard for him, so we support him by not mentioning it around him whenever it's possible."

"I see," Asuka said.

At that moment, Shinji was on the verge of being launched. "Okay Shinji," Misato. "There will be an N2 mine waiting up there for you in one of the utility buildings. Grab it and head straight for Lake Ashi. Jump in and take out that angel. We're counting on you."

"Roger that," Shinji said tensely.

"Okay…Evangelion Unit 01, LAUNCH!" Misato ordered.

From high up in Central Dogma, Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki observed the operation commence in a stone silence. The commanders were joined by Kaji who unlike them had something to say and something to deliver. "I have your package," Kaji said.

There was a moment of silence before Gendo said, "The angel attacked you whilst you were at port because of Adam's presence."

"Yeah, I assumed that as well," Kaji agreed. "It just happened to be the worst time imaginable."

"No matter, you are here with the package, as well as delivering Unit 01's pilot when he was needed. That is all Kaji," Gendo said. Kaji about faced and took his leave, joining Misato on the lower level.

Asuka didn't notice Kaji arrive. Her eyes were glued to the screen which showed Evangelion Unit 01 with an N2 mine tucked under its right arm running at full speed for Lake Ashi. _Somehow I wish it was both me and him in that entry plug…at least that way, I could do something to help, _Asuka thought. That feeling of helplessness was something she was feeling on a regular basis and it was amplified now with Shinji heading out to face an angel that they had originally fought together, albeit in the same Eva. _Shinji…good luck, go and kick that thing's ass, _Asuka thought.

"I'm almost at Lake Ashi," Shinji reported.

"Be careful when you go in," Misato said. "It could get you without warning so be on guard."

"Okay," Shinji acknowledged. The C-Type equipment consisted of several attachments around the limbs and the body of the Eva which propelled it through the water in sync with the pilot's directions. It wasn't particularly bulky and didn't hinder Unit 01's movement on land. The real test was when Shinji entered the water. He didn't know what to expect from the C-Type equipment.

Soon, he was at the water's edge. The artillery barrage stopped as soon as Unit 01 arrived on the scene. "Shinji, I've just got word from the UN forces; they're pulling out. You're on your own," Misato said.

"Got it," Shinji said.

Asuka saw his look of determination on the video screen. She could also see that he was tense and nervous. He was about to battle an aquatic angel in its element. "Okay, I'm going in," Shinji said. "Uh, should I just jump in, or walk in?"

"I don't know," Misato said.

"He should jump in," Asuka said.

"You hear that, Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Was that Asuka who said that?" Shinji inquired.

"Yeah, it was me," Asuka said. "Jump in and go for it Shinji. I'm sure you can do it! Just one thing; watch out for the teeth."

"The teeth?" Misato said to herself quietly with a bit of confusion.

"Okay then, I'll jump in! Thanks Asuka," Shinji said.

Unit 01 leapt into the air with its umbilical cable hanging behind it before landing in the water. "Okay, I'm in," Shinji said. "The C-Type equipment seems to be working fine…although I'm moving a bit slowly."

"Crap, is he meant to be moving that slowly?" Misato asked anxiously.

"I don't know. We never really got to test it," Ritsuko replied.

"Damn…okay Shinji, you'll just have to deal with it. I think that's the fastest that the C-Type equipment will take you," Misato said.

"Roger that," Shinji said.

"Is the N2 mine still with you?" Misato next inquired.

"I've still got it, yeah. No sign of the angel though," Shinji reported.

"Lake Ashi is quite big," Ritsuko noted. "The angel could be anywhere in the lake."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking," said Kensuke, "are you saying that the artillery and the aeroplanes did nothing to it?"

"Conventional weapons don't work against angels and N2 mines have minimal effect if they are deployed against the exterior of the angels," Ritsuko explained.

_The AT-Field, _Asuka thought. _They can't tell anyone outside of NERV about it though_.

"Something's heading toward me! It's the angel!" Shinji cried.

"Hurry, get ready to put the N2 mine in its mouth!" Misato said.

"Damn…it's moving quickly!" Shinji said. Before he could react, the angel had opened its mouth and snapped its jaws shut on Unit 01. The C-Type equipment had absolutely no chance of manoeuvring the Eva out of harm's way in time. "The angel has Unit 01 in its mouth!" exclaimed Maya Ibuki.

"Damage to the abdomen section of Unit 01 is considerable!" added Makoto Hyuga.

"Shinji, are you okay?!" Misato cried.

"My stomach…argh, it hurts," Shinji said weakly.

"The pilot is losing conciousness!" Shigeru Aoba yelled. "Pain experienced by the pilot is comparable to that of a shark bite!"

"Dear lord…" Misato said forlornly.

"He can't lose conciousness! If he does, then Unit 01 will lose grip of the N2 mine!" Ritsuko cried.

"Pilot is suffering from internal bleeding!" Maya reported before turning away from her console. "This is horrible…I can't watch!"

"Pilot's is about to black out," Makoto said.

At that point, Asuka had had enough. She pushed Misato out of the way and moved forward towards the communications equipment. "Shinji, can you hear me? I know you can hear me Shinji!" Asuka yelled down the comm. link.

"Asuka…?" Shinji said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Listen to me; you've got to detonate that N2 mine!" Asuka urged.

"Oh my god…he's drifting in and out of conciousness," Makoto said. "Internal bleeding isn't too serious, but he's in a lot of pain. Any minute he'll be completely unconscious."

"Shinji! Don't give up on us! We need you to do this for us! Just push through for us and detonate that N2 mine!" Asuka cried.

"Asuka…it hurts…" Shinji gasped.

At this point, Asuka dropped to her knees in front of Misato's console and struggled to hold her head up high. This wasn't the reason why she went back. She didn't want to see Shinji going through such intense pain. She wanted to help but all she could do was watch. However, a part of her told her to keep going, to keep on shouting at Shinji, in the dire hope that he might just be conscious enough to set off the N2 mine.

"Please Shinji…you've got to…set off that N2 mine," Asuka said, fighting back tears. "Everyone here doesn't want to see you die at the hands of this stinking fish…we all care about you, Shinji. Misato, your friends…me…we want you to go on Shinji…please…for us…for me…"

"Asuka?" Shinji said weakly.

"Unit 01 is moving!" Shigeru cried ecstatically. "The N2 mine…it's been activated!"

"What?!" Misato cried. By some miracle, half of Unit 01 was inside of the angel's mouth. The half which held the N2 mine was inside the mouth and once Shinji had activated the N2 mine, he was free to let it go. "The mine is moving down towards the angel's core," Makoto reported. "Detonation in 5…4…3…2…1."

The screen turned to snow as the explosion was heard as a rumble even from down in NERV HQ. "Get us video feed, NOW!" Misato ordered. "From the air, anywhere! I don't care; just get that video feed up!"

Within seconds, there was an aerial shot of Lake Ashi on screen. A huge amount of water had been displaced by the explosion and was falling down liked rain over the lake and Tokyo-3. "The angel has been destroyed," said Shigeru with relief in his voice.

"Where's Unit 01?" Misato asked frantically.

"It's…there! Can you see it? Bottom left of the picture!" said Makoto.

"Pilot is unconscious but alive. He needs medical treatment to make sure that internal bleeding doesn't get out of hand," Maya said.

"Send a team to recover the pilot! I want them there five minutes ago!" Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Shigeru responded. "A team is already on their way."

Asuka was still on her knees when she saw Unit 01 in a shallower part of the lake. She blew a sigh of relief upon seeing the angel defeated and hearing that Shinji was all right. "Asuka," said Misato, placing her hand on the redhead's shoulder. "That was good of you…thank you." Asuka nodded her head in acknowledgement but kept her eyes glued to the screen. Once Misato had walked away, Asuka whispered, "Shinji…you idiot…" before allowing a lone tear to flow down her face. She felt that she could allow herself just one tear to make sure that she remained in touch with her emotions, something which she never allowed herself to do before. Maybe things would be different and this would only be the start. Contrary to what she might have thought and proved by today's events, Asuka had no idea what to expect from this future but she had a new optimistic outlook, hoping that maybe if she could change herself, it could make a change to bigger, more significant things. She would start by visiting Shinji at the hospital once he received treatment.

* * *

Shinji slowly opened his eyes to a sight he had seen before. "That ceiling again…I've been here before," he said quietly. Shinji began to sit up but stopped when he felt a pain in his abdomen. He inspected his stomach area and saw stitches where an operation had been performed. Wincing at the pain, Shinji brought himself to a sat up position in the bed. Much to his surprise when he looked across from his bed, he saw Asuka, asleep in her chair. _Asuka? What is she doing here?_ Shinji asked himself. Then he realised that she had been waiting for him to wake up ever since he was put in the hospital. _She must be exhausted after her long journey so couldn't help but fall asleep while sitting there, _Shinji reasoned. Still, it was surprising to see her there. He remembered her forcing conversation out of him on the he arrived on _Over the Rainbow_. She was pushy and overbearing, but Shinji could not help but feel that it was all in a nice way.

The next issue at hand for Shinji was figuring out how he ended up in hospital. He remembered seeing the angel close in on him whilst they were in the lake but afterwards, everything was a blur. _I'm alive, so I guess I must have beat the angel somehow…I just wonder how, _Shinji thought. He glanced over to Asuka once more, never expecting to wait in his hospital room for him. He had barely known her for a day, yet she was willing to do this for him? _That's…that's really nice of her, _Shinji thought with a smile. _I never thought anyone would do that for me_. His thoughts turned back to the battle and trying to make out what happened. As his memories became slightly clearer, he realised there was something constant within his mind during the battle. It was the sound of Asuka's voice. He couldn't really remember the words she was saying but he could remember activating the N2 mine because of something she said. From the sleeping form of the redhead, he realised that it was because she cared. She told him that she cared and somehow he managed to set that N2 mine off. Shinji felt better at the realisation; happy that maybe he had met somebody who really did care.


	3. Memories Lost Like Tears In Rain

3. Memories Lost Like Tears In Rain

Asuka had not really been thinking about going to school but it had already been decided that she would join class 2-A at Tokyo-3 Junior High School by the higher ups at NERV. She had forgotten that she would have to start school again at some point due to the last battle and the stresses that it brought upon her. Once she walked through those familiar corridors and into the class of 2-A to introduce herself, she morbidly began to remember what happened when she first arrived.

"Hey, have you seen that new girl?"

"Who, that foreign girl in 2-A?"

"Yeah! She's totally classy!"

"Yeah, too classy for you!"

"I bet she left some boyfriend back home in Germany and is living a sad but hopeful life in a new country. I could go and comfort her."

"Boys! You're all the same, perverts!"

"But Akira, you have to admit, she is pretty stylish."

"I guess…"

"Haha! Even Akira is going soft!"

"Hey Takeya! Cut that out!"

Asuka couldn't be bothered to deal with the fuss that the school was making over her arrival at the school. She would have much rather kept a low profile and out of everyone's way, much like Shinji would have done. Still, she had to act the part. "Asuka, is it true that you were a bit of a celebrity at your old school in Germany?" a random girl from the year below asked.

"Well, you know what they say! Fame comes to those who truly deserve it!" Asuka replied, trying her best not to cringe.

"Oh my god! You're sooo cool, Asuka!"

"Please be my friend!"

It was like that for Asuka the entirety of her first day at school. The endless commotion and fuss that she had been through before and had no desire to go through again. Still, it couldn't be helped and Asuka had to at least pretend she was enjoying herself to make it seem like she was taking the welcome in good grace. The next day was very much the same, with the buzz surrounding her seeming endless. As she wondered through the school endlessly during her lunch break, she stumbled upon Shinji's two friends, Toji and Kensuke who appeared to be selling something. Upon closer inspection, Asuka could see they were photographs…of her.

"Hmm, I think I want four wallet prints of this one and a full size copy of this photo," Asuka said.

"Sure thing, let me just…" Kensuke began before he noticed who he was serving. "Holy crap!"

"Asuka, what a pleasant surprise!" Toji said. "Can I get you anything? A can of ice cold coke? Some food, money? Psst, Kensuke, clear away the photos!"

"Kensuke, that won't be necessary," Asuka said, less than impressed.

"Um…will you explain or will I?" Kensuke asked nervously.

"Asuka…hey, it's nothing personal. Just…business, that's all. We're just trying to profit from the Asuka hype, ya know?"

"Whatever," Asuka muttered. "I don't even care."

"You…you don't?" Kensuke asked with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"Being friends of Shinji, which you both are, right?" Asuka said. She received nods from both Toji and Kensuke, which prompted her to continue. "Well, you are friends of Shinji and my question is; would Shinji be selling photos with you?"

"Uh…probably not," Toji admitted.

"Yeah, Shinji's not like that," Kensuke added.

"What, a shameless pervert?" Asuka asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"No…he's just not…business minded," Toji offered weakly. "Like us."

"Please. Give me a break," Asuka scoffed.

"Do you want an apology or something?" Kensuke inquired.

"No, I don't care. Just do whatever you want," Asuka said.

"Okay," Toji said. "We don't mean to offend you or anything. People just like to buy photos of you."

"I said I don't care," Asuka snapped.

"Well, that's good! Really good. All of this aside, have you seen Shinji? He hasn't been at school recently," Toji asked.

"Shinji's still in hospital," Asuka replied blankly.

"Is his injury that serious?" Kensuke said worriedly.

"He's fine. He's just resting on doctor's orders. I saw him after he woke up and he was fine," Asuka said.

"That's good," Toji said. "Listen, Asuka, I know that we don't exactly see eye to eye and stuff and probably never will, but hear me out, okay? Shinji…he needs good friends, people he can trust. Me and Kensuke can only do so much but you pilot the Eva as well so that helps. Be a good friend to Shinji, ya hear?"

Asuka looked Toji in the eye and saw the sincerity that he held. He may have been an idiotic pervert, but Asuka could tell this would mean a lot, not only to him and Kensuke, but Shinji as well. "Okay…I'll try to be a good friend to Shinji," Asuka said.

"Thanks," Toji said. "Shinji needs it."

"What do you mean by saying he needs it?" Asuka asked. "Is it something serious?"

"Well, not really. It's just Toji and I are Shinji's only friends at the school," Kensuke pointed out.

"Yeah, and we didn't really get to a good start either," Toji admitted.

"That's because you punched him in the face!" Kensuke cried.

"You what?!" Asuka exclaimed.

"Twice!" Kensuke added.

"How could you?!" Asuka raged.

"It was a misunderstanding, okay?! My sister got hurt real bad in that first Eva battle or whatever I had to blame somebody. It happened to be Shinji," Toji explained. "We're good now. I had him punch me back so we're even."

"And we ended up friends with him," Kensuke said. "So it's all good."

"I still can't believe you punched him though," Asuka muttered. "I should really punch _you _in the face for that."

"Hey, I said Shinji and I were even!" Toji cried.

"Whatever," Asuka said, although she couldn't help but have a quiet laugh. "I'll catch you two morons about when you're not selling pictures of me without my permission. And Toji."

"Yeah?" Toji asked.

"I'll try…no, I _will_ be a good friend to Shinji," Asuka said before taking her leave.

Toji and Kensuke both watched Asuka walk off and both blew a sigh of relief that their current source of income was still intact. "You know, for a bitch, she ain't half bad," Toji chuckled.

"I doubt you would say the same thing if she trashed our operation," Kensuke pointed out.

"She's got a fine ass as well," Toji added, tilting his head slightly while observing Asuka's behind.

"Amen, brother," Kensuke agreed.

* * *

"So, you're officially transferred?" Misato inquired irately.

"Just like I said on the ship," Kaji confirmed.

Misato tried her best to give Kaji the cold shoulder as he walked along the corridor with her. She had been making her way fine on her own until Kaji appeared behind her and announced his presence. It was enough to ruin Misato's day. In fact, she very much felt like it ruined her day.

"Now that I'm here, how does a drink later tonight sound?"

"How does a punch in the face sound?" Misato snapped.

"Less appealing than the drink, I'll admit," Kaji noted nonchalantly. "But if it's a punch delivered from you, then I'll take it in good grace."

"If this is your attempt to woo me, then I'm far from impressed," Misato chided. "Now stop bothering me. I'm picking up Shinji from the hospital."

"I'll come with you," Kaji said.

"I was hoping that you _wouldn't_ say that," Misato muttered from behind gritted teeth.

"Maybe I care about Shinji's wellbeing too?" Kaji suggested.

"Even if you do, I still resent you following me like this," Misato said.

"She hasn't changed a bit," Kaji chuckled as Misato stormed off ahead.

However, she was interrupted by the alarms that suddenly began blaring all throughout NERV. "Damn it…an angel attack?!" Misato cursed.

"Don't worry; I'll pick up Shinji. You go and do what you do best," Kaji said.

"Are you sure?" Misato asked, feeling the need to edge away to her post.

"I'm sure. I'll get him from the hospital," Kaji said.

A smile began to creep on Misato's face, "Thanks Kaji."

"Don't mention it. Now go! You're needed!" Kaji urged before watching Misato quickly move off to her post. As Kaji turned away to head towards the hospital, he stopped, realising one crucial fact. "Crap…where is the hospital?" he asked out loud.

* * *

"What's the situation?" Misato asked as soon as she appeared in Central Dogma.

"An Angel has been detected several miles out to sea and heading northwest directly for Tokyo-3!" Makoto replied.

"We still have time," Ritsuko pointed out. "If we hurry, we can engage the angel just as it reaches the coastline."

"We'll do that then," Misato agreed. "Get Asuka and Rei suited up and have Units 00 and 02 ready for launch."

"I presume Shinji is in no fit state to pilot?" Ritsuko inquired.

"Correct," Misato answered. "And I'm going along with the assumption that Unit 01 is still undergoing repairs?"

"That's right," Ritsuko said. "Unit 01 is far from battle ready. Also, as a matter of fact, Unit 00's body armour transplant is only about 80 percent complete."

"We need it though, right?" Misato asked with a frown on her face.

"Definitely. We can afford to have Unit 00 launched in its current state, providing that this angel doesn't have a high energy attack," Ritsuko explained.

"Fine. I'm happy with that. I want a forward command post set up just off the beach from the angel's expected landing point on Japanese soil. Let's get moving! On the double!" Misato ordered.

Once again, NERV became a hive of activity as personnel began moving and shifting about, some of whom would relocate to the forward command centre. Misato hoped that this operation would go smoothly. It was NERV's first ever operation without Shinji participating. It was slightly ironic that he seemed a constant in their success against the angels, almost a good luck charm, despite all his reluctance to pilot. Without him, Misato would have to rely on Asuka's training and confidence and Rei's determination and loyalty. Along with some sound mission planning, Misato was hoping that all would go to plan. It rarely ever did, but while she still had the ability to hope, she would. "Ritsuko, are you ready to go?" Misato asked.

"Yes, I'm ready," Ritsuko said. "How about you?"

"I…I think so," Misato replied, slightly shakily.

"Huh? Where's that exuberating confidence you always seem to have?" Ritsuko asked.

"I'm always apprehensive about these operations," Misato pointed out. "It's just showing a bit more today."

* * *

Asuka felt that she should be apprehensive herself, but she was quickly rediscovering that confidence that she always displayed. She wasn't so keen to show it to those around her, which _back then_ may have been arrogance rather than confidence. If she could stay confident and know that her mother is in Unit 02 with her, then there was surely no way that she could be beaten. It was her first battle since going back in time and even though things were slowly changing from how she remembered it, there was no stopping her comeback to prominence as an Eva pilot. _Okay Asuka, _she thought, _it starts here. Show those damn angels what you're made of. Hopefully I can make a difference today._

Asuka turned to her right, looking out of her Eva. She saw the aircraft carrying Unit 00 flying in formation alongside the aircraft that was transporting her Unit 02. _Well Rei, let's see if you can actually pilot this thing, _Asuka thought. In her mind, she was relying on herself. She didn't have any real idea on Rei's piloting ability in a one-to-one, close quarter's situation and because of that, Asuka regarded Rei as more of a support unit rather than an equal team-mate. She felt that this was her battle to be won where she would have all the decisive blows. It was this mindset which was Asuka's greatest mistake going in against this angel.

"Ten seconds until drop off, get ready you two," Misato said.

"Five…four…three…two…one," Maya counted down. "We have successful drops for both units."

"Once you two reach the ground, head straight for the beach and get yourselves hooked up to the power supplies," Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am," both Rei and Asuka acknowledged. It wasn't long before both Units were at the beach, poised and ready to move out. Unit 02 was armed with a long pole and Unit 00 had a rifle. _Just like old times…except no Shinji. That moron, getting all heroic with the last angel…I hope he's all right,_ Asuka thought.

"Angel is coming into visual range!" Shigeru reported.

"I see it," Asuka said.

"Permission to engage?" Rei inquired.

"Not yet," Misato said. "Wait for it to get closer."

"Yes ma'am," Rei said.

"Rei, cover me from range. I'll go in close quarters," Asuka said.

"I concur," Rei agreed.

"You know, this is our first fight together," Asuka noted.

"Yes," Rei said, having nothing more to add.

_God, she's still as hard as ever to talk to, _Asuka moaned internally.

"Range 500 metres and closing," Makoto said.

"You're free to engage," Misato said. "Go kick some ass."

Rei began firing her rifle as soon as she got the go ahead, giving Asuka the go ahead to advance on the target. _Focus, Asuka, focus. Mother is with you, _Asuka told herself. _I can feel your presence mother…please, be with me_.

"Asuka's synch ratio is skyrocketing!" Ritsuko exclaimed. "Incredible…it's nearly 100 percent!"

"What?! No way!" Misato cried.

As Asuka advanced on the angel, her mind was clear, allowing her to think clearly. _I can't just go in and slice it in two…but then again, the only way to destroy it is by taking out both cores simultaneously. I guess I'll have to wing it, _Asuka thought. As the angel was being pelted by rounds from Rei's rifle, Asuka worked her way across sunken buildings in the water and poised her Eva to strike. As got closer, she saw that the angel had no trouble deflecting the rifle rounds with its AT field. From that moment, everything slowed right down, allowing Asuka to see each moment clearly and precisely. As she lifted Unit 02's arms to strike the angel, the arm of her target began to rise. As the split seconds passed, Asuka saw that contact between the angel's hand and her Eva was inevitable. Her mistake of believing that she had to be the one who ended this fight would come back to haunt her all in an instant.

"The angel struck Unit 02 mid-flight!" Maya cried. The NERV crew watched with horror as Unit 02 flew all the way from the angel back to the shore line from the impact of the blow. Misato barely managed to see it all, never mind register what happened, it was that quick. As Unit 02 was about to strike, the angel lifted its arm to strike the red Evangelion right in the chin.

"Severe cranial shock detected in Unit 02!" Shigeru reported.

"Unit 02's pilot has lost consciousness!" Makoto added.

"Damn it!" Misato cursed.

"Her synch ratio was so high…Asuka must have felt the full force of that knockout punch," Ritsuko commented. "It's up to Rei now."

Rei dropped her current weapon and picked up a spare pole that was lying on the beach. She launched it straight at the angel before withdrawing her prog knife, getting ready for close quarters combat. It seemed for a moment that it wouldn't be needed as the pole went straight into the angel's mid section, causing it to stop dead in its tracks. However, it quickly began to move again, pulling the pole out of its body. As it did, it split into two seemingly separate angels. "What the hell?!" Misato raged. "That's no fair!"

One of the separated angels launched the pole right back at Rei, piercing Unit 00's left shoulder, bringing it to the ground. As soon as two angels were approaching Rei's now injured Unit 00, everything was immediately stacked against her. "Rei, pull back!" Misato ordered. "Grab Unit 02, pull back and regroup further back!"

"Roger that," Rei acknowledged. She grabbed a hold of Unit 02 before throwing the stricken Eva over Unit 00's good shoulder. Then, she moved away from the beach while the angel seemed in no great hurry to pursue. "All NERV personnel, pull back from the beach, I repeat, pull back from the beach," Misato ordered. And like that, the logistical train of NERV moved like a well oiled machine with the withdrawal from the forward area performed with speed and precision. "What are we going to do now?" Maya inquired as their temporary command centre was being moved along the road.

"We need to rethink the plan of attack, especially with Asuka temporarily out of the equation," Misato said.

"At the rate the angel is currently moving, we have plenty of time," Ritsuko noted.

"Right," Misato said. "We could set up an ambush point further along the angel's path."

"What? With one Eva?" Ritsuko asked. "Even if Asuka regains consciousness soon, she's more than likely going to prove ineffective as a pilot, as is the nature of head injuries. She could be concussed or worse. And even if she is just woozy, she would still find it very difficult to pilot the Eva."

"So basically, you're saying that we're down to one Eva?" Misato asked.

"Well, one and a half at best," Ritsuko said. "Ideally, you'd want to give Asuka medical attention for a possible head injury."

"Maybe we could use the positron rifle in an ambush attack?" Makoto suggested.

"That is a possibility," Misato noted.

"We're still hard at work making the positron rifle a portable Eva weapon. In its current state, it would take several hours to set up for a fixed sniping position," Ritsuko said.

"And the tactical implications of a fixed sniping position means that if you don't get a second chance if the angel manages to get past you," Shigeru said.

"Correct," Misato said. "It seems our options are quickly running dry."

"We could still set up the ambush point with the positron rifle," Ritsuko said. "It just means that if we get it wrong then we have to think of something else, very quickly."

Misato frowned, "Are you sure that Asuka wouldn't be fit to pilot? I think that once she becomes conscious, she'll be raring to go."

"Like I said, that's the nature of head injuries," Ritsuko stated. "You're not too sure until you check. I guess we could allow her to pilot if she says she feels fine. We need the extra manpower. Maya."

"Yes doctor?"

"How long has Asuka been out for?" Ritsuko asked.

"Ever since she was struck by the angel…six minutes ago," Maya replied.

"Six minutes? That's not good, is it?" Makoto said.

"I think she's truly out for the count," Ritsuko said.

"Damn," Misato muttered. "And having Rei out on her own against what seems like two angels might not be wise."

"It's your call," Ritsuko said.

"Thanks for reminding me," Misato said, falling quiet. It also seemed that nobody had anything else to add.

Amidst the silence that fell over the temporary command post, the phone began to ring. Misato quickly answered it. "Yes, Captain Katsuragi speaking…yes, I understand. We're currently pulling back after one of our pilots was incapacitated…No sir, we're weighing up our options…No, I can't give you a definite answer on our course of action…No, our withdrawal is circumstantial, nothing to do with our ability to counter the angels…Yes, I'm fully aware of that sir, but if you give us more time…What...? Sir, if you give us more time, the angel's current rate of approach to Tokyo-3 is slow enough so that…I see. Very well, sir. It goes against what my team and I advise but I can't say no if that's what the government say…Like I said, we just need more time to have a definite plan for dealing with the angel threat…Orders directly from the prime minister? Very well, go ahead with the strike." Misato slowly placed the handset back in its cradle.

"Let me guess; a UN general overruling our authority and going ahead with an N2 bomb attack on the angel?" Ritsuko said.

"That's it exactly," Misato said with the frustration very evident in her voice. "The government are too impatient. They won't let us do our job."

"Politicians and senior generals, eh?" Makoto noted. "They always want instant results."

"Rei, this is Misato. Return to base and keep Unit 02 with you," Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am. Returning to base," Rei responded diligently.

"Looks like NERV's lost face with the UN and government," Shigeru said.

"But…we couldn't do anything about it. They overruled our authority," Maya said.

"It'll still look like we messed up bad," Misato said. "I doubt either of the commanders will be very impressed."

"We'll just have to live with it for now," Ritsuko said. "Now let's concentrate on getting the hell out of here."

* * *

In an unnamed ward inside of NERV's hospital unit, Asuka's consciousness slowly began to return to her. It began with the unhurried opening of her eyes, her eyelids seeming incredibly heavy. As the light began to pour through the lenses in her eyes, her brain took a moment to register this new information. Asuka then sat up slowly, feeling a slight dizziness as she did and looked around at her surroundings. She deduced that it was a hospital ward, but she couldn't quite figure out where. She knew that she had been knocked out by an angel yet everything else surrounding that seemed vague. Her first worry was whether the angel had been defeated. Then came the realisation that she wasn't quite sure what an angel was, why they needed to be fought and what she could have possibly fought one with. There was only one thing clear in her mind. It was a name.

Kaworu. That word kept on repeating in Asuka's mind but she did not know why. She also had no idea who this Kaworu person was but the name seemed to be on loop in her mind. _Everything…everything is so fuzzy…except that name. Who the hell is Kaworu? _Asuka thought to herself. Even as the fuzziness faded in her head, everything that floated around in her mind seemed to be clouded. All except that name. Amidst her attempts to clear up her mind, Ritsuko walked into the room unexpectedly. "Hello Asuka. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Asuka replied.

"Now I've just got a few questions to ask to check your condition so if you'll just bear with me for a moment please," Ritsuko said. Asuka nodded before listening intently. The more she listened, the more she realised that something was definitely wrong.

* * *

Misato waited for Ritsuko to emerge out of Asuka's room and the expression on Ritsuko's face told Misato quite a lot of the story. "Well?" Misato asked.

"Asuka was astounded when I told her that more than a week had passed since she was knocked out by the angel," Ritsuko answered. "I also had to explain that Shinji and Rei teamed up to defeat the angel using a choreographed routine that Kaji came up with."

"She's fine though, right?" Misato inquired hopefully.

"Not quite," Ritsuko pointed out. "She's suffering from retrograde amnesia."

"Amnesia? From the head trauma?" Misato asked.

"Most likely," Ritsuko replied.

"Damn it, that's the last thing we need," Misato muttered. "How bad is it?"

"I mentioned Shinji and Rei to her and she was about to speak before stopping as if she forgot something. From what I can tell, the memories are there. She just can't access them," Ritsuko explained.

"Maybe it's just fuzziness about waking up from being out cold so long?" Misato said, forever the optimist.

"No, she was fully conscious and I was talking to her for over five minutes. Her ability to access her memories has definitely been affected," Ritsuko said.

"Is it…permanent?"

"I don't know. Only time will tell," Ritsuko replied. "Apart from that, she has no real injuries. You can take her home if you want."

"I'd probably better," Misato said. "Although I'm not sure how it will go. How do you talk to someone with amnesia?"

"Just remind her of everything if she seems to have forgotten. She is the designated pilot of Unit 02 and we need her in that role," Ritsuko said.

"Okay, I'll try my best. And Shinji, I'll get him to do the same," Misato added.

"Good," Ritsuko said with a nod of her head, before walking away.

"Hey, Ritsuko! Wait a second!" Misato cried.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"How about a drink later tonight?"

"I'm sorry; I'm still busy with the repairs on Unit 01. Another time, maybe?"

"Okay…sure thing Ritsuko." With that, Misato's old friend disappeared into the depths of NERV to continue in her endless cycle of work. It left Misato alone to take Asuka home. She didn't really know what to except from Asuka as amnesia wasn't something that she came across often.

Misato entered the ward and found Asuka staring into space. "Hello Asuka," Misato greeted.

The redhead quickly turned her head around and smiled, "Ah, hey Misato." Asuka's guardian was pleased that Asuka at least managed to remember her name. "The hospital is ready to release you now and I've come to take you home," Misato said.

"Oh? That's good," Asuka said. Then, a puzzled look overcame Asuka's face. Misato immediately knew that the young German girl didn't really remember what 'home' was. "Your things are in that bag beside your bed. Once you get changed, just come on out. I'll be waiting," Misato said.

"Okay, thanks," Asuka said before Misato took her leave.

_Home…Misato's home. Where is that again? Why can't I remember how it was like? _Asuka thought as she donned the school uniform that she was wearing when she arrived at NERV over a week ago to combat the angel threat. _It's strange…I know Misato's face and her name, but I can't seem to associate any thoughts or feelings to her. She's just Misato. Everything…it's so blurred. I just keep remembering the name Kaworu and I have no idea why_.

Asuka emerged from the ward and was greeted by Misato's smile. "Are you ready to go?" Misato asked. Asuka nodded her head and the two began to head toward the exit of the hospital.

The drive back to Misato's flat was a silent one. Asuka simply stared out of the passenger side window of Misato's car, trying to get a grip of everything and most of all, figure out just who Kaworu was. If his name kept on repeating itself in her mind, then maybe he was important. However, she had no idea what he looked like. It was just another mystery in Asuka's mind.

After arriving in the parking lot, Misato led Asuka up to her flat and let her in. Upon entering, Asuka just felt like she was entering somewhere new and she became more and more convinced that what Dr Akagi had told her was true. Maybe she really did have amnesia. She didn't believe it at first but now with all these seemingly new places and faces that she was meant to know, it seemed that her diagnosis of amnesia was true. The problem remained that she had no idea what she had forgotten.

"Asuka, sit in the living room a while. I'm just going to have a quick word with Shinji," Misato said before disappearing into what Asuka assumed to be his bedroom.

"Shinji," Asuka said to herself quietly. "I have to…to be a good friend to Shinji. Why am I remembering this?"

When Misato entered Shinji's room, she found that he was listening to music with his SDAT player and sitting at his desk, doing homework. Upon hearing her entry, Shinji took the headphones out of his ears and turned to face his guardian. "Shinji, Asuka's back today," Misato said.

"Is she okay?" Shinji asked.

"Well, in body, yes. In mind, not quite," Misato answered with a frown on her face.

"Huh? How come? What's wrong?" Shinji asked, getting up out of his seat.

"Shinji…it's quite complicated. Asuka's suffering from retrograde amnesia, which means she can't recall some memories from her past. We're not sure how serious it is but I guess only time will tell," Misato explained.

"Amnesia…" Shinji said quietly. "Do you know what she remembers and doesn't?"

"It's too early to tell. She seemed to remember me quite well but she looked like she was in a new place altogether when she walked into the flat."

"I'm not too sure…how I'll…I'll…speak to her about it," Shinji said.

"To be perfectly honest, neither am I," Misato pointed out. "What I will say is help her out as much as you can. If you can remind her of something, do it."

"Okay, sure. Is it okay to speak to her now?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, of course. Go ahead Shinji," Misato replied.

Shinji placed his music player on his desk, unknowingly leaving it still playing. As he walked out into the living room, he saw Asuka and she looked up at him. "Asuka," Shinji said. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks," Asuka said before struggling to find something to say. After a moment of silence and looking fairly embarrassed, she said, "I guess you're Shinji."

Her remark caught Shinji by surprise, "Um yeah, that's me. I guess…you don't remember."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that…I mean…" Asuka began to say.

"It's okay, I understand," Shinji managed to say, much to Asuka's reassurance.

"Really?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, really," Shinji replied. "Misato told me about everything…listen, if there's anything you need…just say."

"Thanks Shinji. I really appreciate it," Asuka said. "I could sure use the help when I go back to school."

"Oh yeah, school might be tough," Shinji said. "Do you remember much about it?"

"Tokyo-3 Junior High, Class 2-A. That much is clear. Otherwise, I'm pretty much in the dark," Asuka said. "Hey, by the way, on a random note, do you know anyone called Kaworu?"

"Kaworu?" Shinji said. "Um, sorry. I don't know anybody by that name."

"Oh, okay. I was just wondering. That name just keeps on floating about in my head and I don't know why. Thanks for trying anyway. By the way, you and Rei beat that angel, right?" Asuka asked.

"Um, yeah, we did," Shinji replied.

"Cool. Congrats," Asuka said.

"It's okay. It's our job, I guess," Shinji noted.

"I don't know if I'll remember how to pilot the Eva," Asuka said. "I can't really bring anything to mind when it comes to that."

"I'm sure you'll…I'm sure you'll do fine. I mean…you were pretty good at piloting," Shinji said.

"Aw, thanks. Maybe if you give me a helping hand, I'll be all right," Asuka chuckled.

Misato was listening to the conversation in her room and it conjured up some interesting thoughts. _I've never heard Asuka say thank you to someone, never mind say it this many times! Maybe getting amnesia isn't such a bad thing for her, _Misato mused in her mind as she slipped on a new pair of panties. _What she can and can't remember seems mixed. She remembered her school and class but she had to make sure whether she was speaking to Shinji or not!_

As Misato finished putting on her favourite top and short shorts to wear around the flat, she opened her door, tiptoed out into the corridor and peered around the corner into the living. Misato decided that the very sight of seeing Shinji, who was usually quite quiet and reclusive, speaking to Asuka with a smile on his face, was enough to make her happy. Misato could have a beer and rest easy tonight.


	4. In My Dreams

4. In My Dreams

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her go back to school?" Ritsuko asked Misato whilst the two were sat at a table looking over the Geofront. The bar area in which they were currently in was one of their favoured retreats whenever they found a moment to themselves in the hectic schedules that NERV brought upon them. "I don't know. That's why I was asking you," Misato said, twirling her straw in her drink.

"You thought I would have experience with amnesiac high school girls?" Ritsuko chuckled, taking a sip of her wine.

"Now I know it was a stupid idea coming to asked you," Misato sighed.

Their table was dimly lit by a candle in an otherwise dark space. The main source of light in the bar was the large window that stretched in front of the two women, providing a marvellous view of the Geofront in the process. "How bad is it anyway? What's it liked with her at home?" Ritsuko inquired.

"She less…what's a nice way to put it? She's less abrasive," Misato said. "She didn't remember my flat or anything. It was all new to her."

"Considering the state of the mess in your flat, I don't know how anybody could forget!" Ritsuko added wryly.

"Ritsu!" Misato cried. "You know what I'm like. And besides, Shinji's helped me clean up."

"I can't believe you made him clean your whole flat. You're such a slave driver."

"Shut up! I did help…a bit."

Ritsuko and Misato both laughed, reminiscing about all those moments they had during university. Times had changed, and things were different, but both hoped that maybe some things would never change. "Speaking of Shinji," Misato noted, "he's been getting on a bit better with Asuka."

"Has he now?" Ritsuko asked.

"I mean, Asuka wasn't quite how I remembered her. She seemed more cautious, like she was watching out for something before she lost her memory. Anyway, she and Shinji have been blabbing away like there's no tomorrow," Misato explained.

"That's a good sign…for Shinji I mean. If his confidence is helped then it would have a positive effect on his piloting," Ritsuko said.

"Always thinking about the job, eh?" Misato said before taking a rather large gulp of her drink.

"Well, it _is _my job, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I was more thinking about how it might effect Shinji as a person."

"If he has more confidence and more comfortable at making friends, then that would be good for him, right?"

Misato nodded, "Yeah, and maybe it'll help him forget about _him_."

"Him?" Ritsuko asked.

"You know…his father," Misato replied, lowering her voice slightly.

"Ah, right. They aren't exactly on the best of terms," Ritsuko added.

"You have a knack for understating things. Have you seen what they're like? You would have thought the commander didn't know Shinji at all," Misato said.

"Yet Shinji still seeks his approval," Ritsuko noted.

"I don't envy Shinji. He's probably going through the worst adolescence ever," Misato said.

"Worse than yours?" Ritsuko asked.

Misato looked down into her drink for a moment and frowned. "Well, one of the worst," the purple haired woman said. "Still, his is pretty shit, with the responsibility on his shoulders and all. And we mustn't forget the other two."

"I don't think responsibility comes into it, to be honest," Ritsuko said, sparking up a cigarette.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at them. They all have their own personal issues that when it comes to piloting Eva, I don't think they quite realise the responsibility they burden. And it's probably better that way. Knowing what is at stake all the time might make things so much worse," Ritsuko explained.

"Hmm, I get your point, actually," Misato said.

"Anyway, I should be getting back," Ritsuko said.

"Come on, another five minutes," Misato appealed.

"I've got to get back," Ritsuko reiterated.

"At least finish your cigarette," Misato said.

Ritsuko was about to stand up before glancing over at Misato and look on her face reinforcing her plea for Ritsuko to stay a bit longer. "Oh all right, I stay with you a bit longer," Ritsuko said. "How much longer is your break?"

"Another ten minutes," Misato said. "Anyway, you've not given me any advice at all about Asuka!"

"I could provide an official medical explanation to the school so that her teachers won't worry," Ritsuko offered.

"Okay, but what about the pupils at school?" Misato asked.

"I don't know. You know Asuka better than me. Plus, you've got Shinji and Rei on your side as well. Get them to help," Ritsuko said.

"I was thinking about that actually. And I'm glad you agree."

* * *

Shinji was up later than he usually would be, doing his homework on the dining table. He typically had his headphones in his ears as to detach himself from the world. As the song he was listening to faded out, he heard that the TV was still on. He knew that Asuka had been watching it before but a while before she had yelled across the room, telling him that she would be going to bed. Shinji took out his headphones and paused his SDAT before moving forward to investigate.

He found that Asuka had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching the TV. Shinji scanned the living room for the remote and saw that it was still clutched in Asuka's hand. Shinji slowly moved his hand to try and grab the remote, trying his best not to make any noise. Once he had got a hold of it, he slowly pulled it, trying not to disturb Asuka. Then, in one swift movement, he swiped it clean from her hand and she didn't react at all. Shinji blew a sigh of relief and switched the television off.

Straight after that though, he heard Asuka shuffle about behind him. He turned around and checked that he hadn't woken her up. "…Shinji…play that song… on the cello again…for me…" Asuka murmured. Shinji quickly step back upon hearing her voice, afraid that she was awakening. However, she was just stirring in her sleep and soon returned to her silent slumber. Shinji slowly placed the remote on the coffee table in front of the TV before walking quickly back to his homework.

Once he sat down, he could not stop what Asuka said in her sleep from repeating over and over in his head. _Play that song again…on the cello? Is she just dreaming? _Shinji thought as he struggled to continue on with his homework. _That's just weird though…Asuka having a dream about me playing the cello to her? I never tell anyone that I play the cello._

As hard as Shinji tried to put pen to paper, he couldn't keep his mind off what Asuka said. He had even forgotten what his homework was about. Frustrated, he dropped his pen and gave up. Even though what Asuka said was something in her sleep, it still had a profound effect on Shinji. There was still the possibility that is was just a coincidence; a coincidence that Asuka dreamed about Shinji playing cello out of all the hundreds of instruments in the world and a coincidence that Shinji did actually play the cello. The only feasible explanation would be a coincidence, but it remained the least likely explanation.

While Shinji struggled to get to grips with his wondering mind, the front door opened by Misato returning back from work. She stepped inside to find Shinji was still up. "Hey Shinji, shouldn't you be in bed?" Misato asked. "It's quite late."

"I was doing homework," Shinji explained.

"Oh, all right," Misato said. "Where's Asuka?"

"She's asleep on the sofa," Shinji replied.

Misato glanced into the living room to find that the redhead was indeed in a peaceful slumber. "She fell asleep watching the TV," Shinji pointed out.

"Oh, okay," Misato said. "Listen, Shinji, while you're up, I need to speak to you about something."

"Hmm, what?"

"It's about Asuka," Misato said. "I've decided to let her go back to school again. However, with her amnesia still affecting her, I need you to keep a close eye and be ready to give her a hand if you need to."

"Um, okay. I'll try," Shinji said. "You just want me to help her and stick around with her, or something?"

"Yeah, that would be good Shinji. The school will get a formal explanation from NERV about her condition. It's up to you that you can help her with other pupils," Misato explained. "I'm sure she'll be okay, but it's just in case."

"It's okay, I understand," Shinji said.

"I'm going to get Rei to help you as well so you won't be alone," Misato added. "Now get to bed or else you won't be able to go to school!"

"Don't you have work early as well?" Shinji asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…yes, but we grown ups can wake up no matter how much sleep we've had. You're still a kid; you need your eight hours shuteye."

"You getting up no matter how much sleep you've had? Yeah right…"

"Hey, I heard that!" Misato cried.

* * *

Asuka opened her eyes and immediately smelled the hard stench of force sterility only found in a hospital. Slowly, she sat herself to an upright position, having been lying down over some chairs in what appeared to be the hospital waiting area. She looked around and saw that the signs were in a language that wasn't all too unfamiliar to her which however took a moment to summon in her mind. _It's in German…that's right, I'm from Germany_, Asuka thought. _How could I not even remember what country I came from? What else could I have forgotten?_

Suddenly, Asuka noticed a young girl running through the hall, straight past the waiting area in which Asuka found herself in. "Mommy! Mommy!" she cried, before disappearing out of sight. Asuka stood up and moved to see where that girl was headed. She had continued to make her way down that hallway and Asuka felt compelled to follow that little girl. Something about her was familiar. Asuka didn't really see her face but she was intrigued nonetheless. _Why do I feel like I know that girl? _Asuka thought as she made her way down the hall.

As she walked, she began to feel like she had been down this hallway before. The memory was strange however, disconnected, like she was seeing into the mind of someone else. She continued down the hallway before hearing a shrieking cry, most likely from that little girl that she saw. Asuka set off at a run to see what was wrong and found the girl at the end of the hallway, with an absolute look of horror on her face and tears streaming down her eyes. "NO!! MOMMY!" the girl cried as she slipped down to her knees.

Asuka cautiously made her way forward to the girl who seemed to be oblivious to her presence before looking into the open doorway that was the source of the little girl's terror. Open seeing what was inside, Asuka immediately gasped and took a step back. "Oh my god," Asuka whispered upon seeing the limp body of who was presumably the girl's mother, hanging from the ceiling with a rope around her neck. Beside the mother was a little doll, hung by its neck as well. The mother wasn't moving and Asuka assumed the worst.

The little girl's voice, who had been screaming for her mother, was reduced to a whisper. "Mommy…why?" she uttered softly, the tears still running down her cheeks. Asuka was absolutely stunned. She didn't know what to do, what to say or who to go to. Her legs were frozen at the spot and she could not stop staring at the woman dangling lifelessly from the ceiling. There some something familiar about that woman and Asuka couldn't grasp what it was. Whatever it was, it was beginning to frighten her.

She then turned her attention to the little girl and knelt down beside her. "I'm…I'm so sorry about your mother," Asuka offered weakly. She felt helpless and she had no idea what she could possibly do for the little girl. The girl wiped her tears away before facing Asuka. "What are you talking about, silly?" the girl asked.

"Huh?" Asuka said, not expecting that reply at all.

"That is your mother as well," the girl said.

"W-w-what?" Asuka spluttered. "What are you talking about?"

"Silly, that is your mother as well. How could you forget?"

"My…mother? She…did that to herself?"

"Yes, she did."

Asuka then looked the girl straight in the eye and saw an uncanny resemblance to herself. "Then, who are you?" Asuka asked hesitantly.

"Why, I'm you, silly!" the girl replied.

Asuka stumbled backwards and started to push herself away from the girl, filled with an insurmountable terror. "No…no, it can't be!" Asuka cried. "This…it's just some stupid, sick dream!"

"How can you forget how your own mother died?" the girl asked in a voice that was suddenly becoming Asuka's deepest fear.

"No…no! I don't believe you! Leave me alone! Please, just go away!" Asuka screamed.

"What's wrong with you? Can't face the truth?" the girl taunted.

"NO!" Asuka shrieked. "GO AWAY!! DON'T TOUCH ME!!"

"Asuka!"

"Please…no," Asuka whimpered, cowering up into a foetal position.

"Asuka…Asuka," said a voice of a boy Asuka knew. It sounded like Shinji, yet she couldn't see him anywhere. "Asuka…ASUKA!"

* * *

Asuka opened her eyes suddenly and gasped a breath of air. "Asuka! Are you okay?" Shinji asked with a worried look on his face. Asuka's eyes quickly scanned the room in a panic. After realising that she was in Misato's flat and not in a German hospital, she began to calm down and she tried to stop hyperventilating. "I'm…okay. Why?" Asuka said. She was still on the sofa and Shinji had a hold of her shoulders. As well as that, she felt sweat all over her body. "You were yelling…you must have been having a nightmare," Shinji said.

"A nightmare?" Asuka asked. "What time is it?"

"It's 7:15," Shinji replied. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Asuka said, sitting up. "Was I really yelling out loud?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "You woke me up and I came out to see what was wrong."

"Oh…I'm…sorry then," Asuka said.

"It's okay," Shinji said. "I was going to get up soon anyway. Do you want some breakfast?"

"Huh? Oh, okay then, thanks," Asuka said.

Shinji then stood up and started heading for the kitchen. "Um, sorry if this is bad news but Misato wants you to go back to school today," Shinji said.

"School? Are you going with me?" Asuka asked.

"Sure," Shinji replied. "If you need any help with anything, just ask me."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Shinji."

"Yeah…no problem." Asuka gave the pilot of Evangelion Unit 01 a quick smile before heading off to the shower to try and cleanse both body and mind.

After getting showered and changed and eating breakfast, the two set off for school. The day was just one of many gloriously sunny days in Japan's perpetual summer. Asuka looked around and took in her surroundings, finding them completely new to her. It was as if this were her first time down this path. It was quite taxing on her mind, the feeling that she should know where she was but in the end, didn't.

"Shinji?" Asuka said.

"Hmm?" was the reply.

"Before I lost my memory, did I ever…I mean, well, did I ever speak about my mother?" Asuka asked.

"Your mother? Uh, no, you never spoke to me about your family," Shinji answered. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Um…well, it was because my nightmare…it was about her," Asuka replied.

"Oh…" Shinji said, not knowing what else to say.

"In my nightmare…she commited suicide by hanging herself," Asuka said. "I don't know whether it really happened or not. For all I know, my mother could be alive and well."

"I'm…sorry," Shinji said meekly.

"Huh? Why are you apologising? It's not like it's your fault!" Asuka cried. "I guess I'll have to find out for myself. Hey, what about you? What's your family like?"

"Oh, my family," Shinji said. "Well, uh, my father is the commander of NERV and I don't really get along with him…no, I don't get along with him at all. My mother died when I was little and I barely remember her and I have no brothers or sisters."

"God…sorry I asked, I didn't know…"

"It's okay. It's not like it's your fault," Shinji interjected, echoing Asuka's words.

Asuka and Shinji both smiled at each other, happy to have found some common ground. "You know, I had another dream," Asuka said. "This one was a lot better than the other one."

"Is that so?" Shinji asked.

"Yup. In this dream, I came into Misato's flat and I found you playing the cello. Then you played me a song on your cello and that was it," Asuka replied. "I don't know why I was dreaming about you playing the cello, but I did anyway."

"Um…I do play the cello," Shinji pointed out.

"What?! Oh my god, that is freaky!" Asuka exclaimed. "Don't tell me you're joking or something!"

"No, I actually do play the cello," Shinji said.

"Oh. Well, if that's the case, then you're going to have to play it for me when we get back from school," Asuka said.

"Wait…I…I haven't played it in a while," said Shinji.

"Don't worry, I'm easily impressed," Asuka said with a smile.

The two eventually made it to school in plenty of time and headed to their classroom. Once Asuka entered, she found that the room itself was familiar but she didn't remember any faces in the room. "Ah, Asuka, you're back," said Hikari the class rep. However, Asuka couldn't recall who she was. "Oh, yeah, thanks," Asuka said, rather awkwardly. "I'm sorry, but I don't quite remember who you are."

"What?" Hikari blurted.

Shinji stepped in and said, "Sorry class rep, um, Asuka was injured in her Eva and she got amnesia as a result of it."

"Asuka's got…amnesia?" Hikari asked. "So this means she can't remember anything?"

"Well, almost," Shinji replied. "She can remember a few things but most other things she's forgotten."

"Oh, all right," Hikari said.

"I'm sorry for any inconvenience or anything," Asuka said.

"Oh no! It's nothing! I'll help you along Asuka," Hikari said emphatically. "And you'll help as well, right Shinji?"

"Sure thing," Shinji replied.

"Good," Hikari said. "Don't worry Asuka, you're in good hands."

After properly introducing herself, Hikari explained the daily routine to Asuka just so that she could get readjusted to school and the ins and outs of the average day. After that, Shinji and Hikari accompanied Asuka around the school and explained her situation to anybody who asked and soon, most of the pupils in the school were aware of her situation. The main reaction was that of curiosity; many wondered what she could and couldn't remember. Some wanted to know the details as to how she got amnesia when the explanation that she got injured in an Eva battle didn't go far enough. All in all, nobody gave any sort of negative reaction and allowed Asuka to get on with her day with a little help from both Shinji and Hikari.

* * *

After school, Shinji walked Asuka back and as soon as they arrived back at Misato's flat, Asuka said, "Now, are you going to play the cello for me?"

"Oh," Shinji said, having forgotten that he said he would play the cello as soon as they got back. "Um, okay, I'll go get it." Asuka sat down in the living room as Shinji went into his room to get his cello. _It was weird that Shinji actually does play cello, _Asuka thought. _I thought that was only a dream, yet it turned out to be true. What could that mean for the other dream I had?_

Shinji soon returned with his cello and sat himself in front of Asuka as well as placing a music stand down in front of him. "Like I said in the morning, I haven't played in a while," Shinji pointed out.

"It's okay," Asuka said. "Just go for it."

Shinji took a deep breath before placing the bow on the strings before beginning to play. Immediately, Asuka recognised the piece he was playing. _That's…that's the song he was playing in my dream, _Asuka thought. _Everything is like in my dream except the situation. In my dream, I came back alone, it wasn't from school and I just stumbled upon Shinji playing the cello. So some things in my dream are the same but some are different. Still, I would have never thought that after dreaming Shinji played the cello that he actually would_.

Despite the uneasiness in Asuka's mind, she continued to listen to Shinji play and found it soothing, although it wasn't enough to keep her thinking about other things. Why was she having these dreams? What do they mean and how did they somehow seem to have a link with reality? Asuka had no idea, although she was hoping someone else might.

* * *

"How are you feeling Asuka?" asked Dr Akagi.

"I'm fine," Asuka replied. After listening to Shinji play the cello, Misato appeared to take Asuka to NERV HQ for a routine medical. "And how was your day at school?" Ritsuko added.

"It was okay. Shinji and the class rep, Hikari, helped me out a lot," Asuka said.

"That's good," Ritsuko said. "Have you been having any headaches or head pains?"

"No."

"Okay. Have you had any trouble with your basic motor skills?"

"Nope."

"Good, good. Nothing seems to be wrong at all," Ritsuko said. "Is there anything you want to ask or anything you want to say?"

Asuka glanced over to Misato who was waiting at the other end of the medical room before turning back to face Ritsuko. "Well…I know this might sound strange, but I've been having weird dreams," Asuka said.

"Dreams?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yeah, dreams. I had two last night from what I could remember. The first one was of me walking home and seeing Shinji playing the cello. I then asked him to play it for me, which he did," Asuka explained. "It seemed totally innocent at first, but then I discovered that Shinji did actually play the cello and he played the exact same song that he did in my dream today when we got back from school."

"Interesting…" Ritsuko noted.

"The other dream I had…well, that one was really sinister. I woke up in a hospital waiting room. All the writing on the walls was in German. As I sat up, I saw a girl running down the hallway in front of me. I begin to follow her, only to hear her scream. I began to run and saw the girl crying, looking at something in horror. I look to see what it was and it was the girl's mother, dead, hanging from the ceiling. Along with her, there is a doll beside her. I try to calm down the girl, but she ends up telling me that the woman hanging there is _my_ mother. I don't know what to make of it."

Ritsuko turned to face Misato whose frown told more than she wanted to let on. "Asuka," Misato said.

"Yeah?"

"Your mother…she did commit suicide by hanging herself when you were about four years old," Misato said.

"So my dream…it was a dream of something _real_?" Asuka asked, the realisation that her mother was indeed dead not quite dawning on her.

"I'm sorry to say that you're right. She was sent to a mental institute after the activation test of Evangelion Unit 02 and unfortunately she was driven to suicide," Misato said. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"It's...it's okay," Asuka said. "I just can't believe that my dreams are telling me things that are somehow related to reality."

"Dreams are sometimes a link to the subconscious," Ritsuko offered. "Sometimes your dreams can show what is deep within your mind, summoning memories or feelings within your subconscious. What interests me, however, is how you could have dreamt of Shinji playing the cello before you actually knew he did. It's almost as if the dream was precognitive."

"Precognitive? As in a premonition?" Asuka asked.

"That's right," Ritsuko said. "Asuka, would you mind staying overnight here so that I can conduct some tests?"

"Um…sure, okay," Asuka replied. "What kind of tests do you want to do?"

"I would like to monitor your brain's activity during your sleep," Ritsuko said. "It's a simple test. All you have to do is fall asleep."

* * *

Later that night, Asuka was preparing to go to bed while Ritsuko was preparing to monitor Asuka's brain activity during her slumber. "Are you ready?" Ritsuko asked.

"I can't believe you're asking me whether I'm ready to go to sleep or not," Asuka chuckled.

"Ah, I guess it was a silly question," Ritsuko agreed. "Just whenever you're ready. I've got all night." Asuka laughed once more before lying down and shutting her eyes. Ritsuko left to get herself a coffee as she had a long night ahead of her. As Asuka drifted off to sleep, she had no idea what her dreams had in store for her this night. She didn't know whether they would reveal memories to her or something completely new.

When Ritsuko returned with her coffee, she found that Asuka was already fast asleep. Now she was playing a waiting game, watching the readout in front of her for any changes in Asuka's brain activity. "How's the test going?" asked Misato who was working another night shift.

"It's barely gotten started," Ritsuko said.

"Do you really think she's having premonitions in her sleep?" Misato inquired.

"I have no idea," Ritsuko replied. "However, this test will give me some data to work with."

"So this isn't a conclusive test?"

"Hardly. All I'm getting is real time information on Asuka's brain activity. It's up to me to interpret that data accordingly," Ritsuko explained. "It's hardly the most exciting type of test, but with a lot of coffee and patience, I can just about hack it."

"Good to hear, Ritsu," Misato chuckled.

Suddenly, the whole complex began to rumble and the lights started to dim and brighten erratically. "What the hell?!" Misato exclaimed.

"Must be an earthquake," Ritsuko noted calmly. After about 8 seconds, the tremors receded and by that time, Asuka was awake again. "What happened?" the redhead asked.

"There was an earthquake," Ritsuko replied. "It wasn't that strong."

"Remember we're in a heavily fortified underground base," Misato pointed out.

"It doesn't make us immune to earthquakes though," Ritsuko said. "Asuka, it's okay, you can go back to sleep."

Then, Makoto Hyuga came running into the room. "Captain Katsuragi! You need to come to Central Dogma right away! It's urgent!" he cried. Misato immediately set off at a quick walking pace and followed Makoto. She shortly arrived in Central Dogma. "What's the situation?" she asked.

"At 23h42, an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale was recorded with its epicentre at Mount Asama, an active volcano," reported Maya Ibuki. "The earthquake was the result of a minor eruption at Mount Asama. However, after reviewing the data and available satellite imagery, there is an outside influence in the eruption."

"An angel," Misato noted. "Summon all the pilots here immediately and get them suited up and into their Evas. Have all population centres near Mount Asama evacuated and sound the alert."

"Yes ma'am," acknowledged Shigeru Aoba.

"Maya, am I right in saying that this angel originated from _inside_ the volcano?" Misato asked.

"Everything we've seen points to that conclusion, ma'am," Maya replied.

Misato immediately frowned. The fact that the angel could withstand the intense heat and pressure inside a volcano immediately made it one tough adversary. Misato didn't like the situation. She didn't like it at all.


	5. Voices

5. Voices

Asuka was alone in the pilot's locker room with her plugsuit on. She was yet to tighten it around her body and it sat loosely around her form. Asuka was in a situation she had come across before, yet it was one she now had no idea about. Apprehension froze her body. She didn't know what would happen as soon as she set foot inside her Evangelion. Would she remember how to pilot it? Or would she climb inside it and have no idea what to do? These questions ran on a loop inside her mind and were becoming a huge source of anxiety for the redhead.

As she waited by herself, she was soon joined by both Shinji and Rei. Neither of them said anything as they entered. Shinji went to the other side of the partition in the locker room while Rei immediately went to work changing. Once she was done, Rei glanced over to Asuka and said, "Are you not coming?"

Asuka quickly snapped her head up towards Rei and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was lost in my own world." Asuka apologised before getting up.

"You haven't tightened your plugsuit," Rei pointed out.

"Ah, yeah, about that…could you…uh, show me how to?" Asuka asked.

Rei pointed to the button on her left wrist. Asuka nodded and pressed the button and found the plugsuit immediately tightened itself around her body. "Thanks Rei," Asuka said. Without a word, Rei turned around and left for her Eva Unit. Asuka was left finding Rei's demeanour rather odd. She then decided to wait for Shinji to appear to see if he could continue from where Rei left off and tell her where she was supposed to go. After a short wait, Shinji appeared from behind the partition and found Asuka looking lost. "Aren't you going to the cages?" Shinji asked. Asuka slowly shook her head with that same lost look. "You…don't remember where the cages are?" Shinji said next. To that, Asuka nodded her head. "Okay, just follow me."

Shinji led the way and Asuka followed, albeit nervously. She could hardly remember what her Eva looked like; never mind how to pilot it. "Shinji?" Asuka asked.

"Hmm?"

"I know this is a silly question and everything but…how do you…pilot Eva, exactly?" Asuka asked.

"What?!" Shinji exclaimed. "I mean…you don't remember how to pilot the Eva?"

"Well…no, I don't think so," Asuka admitted.

Shinji stopped moving in utter surprise at the words coming out of Asuka's mouth. This wasn't the kind of thing he was expected when he heard Asuka had amnesia. "Ah…well, piloting Eva…it's easy…I mean…especially for you…" Shinji stammered. "I mean…you were good at piloting Eva…you had all that training so you should be okay."

"But that doesn't change the fact…the fact that I don't remember how to," Asuka pointed out. "I just need a reminder on how to pilot the Eva."

"Well, I guess it's all in your head," Shinji said.

"In my…head?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, if you think about doing something and focus on it, then the Eva will do what you're thinking about," Shinji replied. "That's it…I think."

"So you just think about what you want to do?" Asuka said.

"Yeah…just think and focus about the movements you want to do and the Eva will do it," Shinji said.

"Okay…I'll give it my best shot," Asuka said.

"You'll do fine…you were always the best pilot," Shinji added.

"I was?"

"Well, you had the most training and stuff. You knew what you were doing."

Asuka nodded her head and continued to follow Shinji as he made his way to the cages. _Just think about what you what your Eva to do…sounds simple enough, I guess, _Asuka thought. _But what if it doesn't do what I want it to do? What then? Just think harder? And if that doesn't work?_ Asuka knew that she was being incredibly pessimistic but she struggled to think any other way because of how nervous she was. She couldn't keep her mind off the prospect of messing up.

Once they had reached the cages, Asuka looked up and saw the three Evangelion Units towering up above her. And as soon as she saw the red one, she immediately knew that one was hers to pilot. It wasn't because she remembered, but rather she had made the obvious connection between the colour of her plugsuit and the colour of her Eva Unit. Next came the task of getting inside, something else Asuka had not clue how to do. She followed Shinji and Rei into an elevator that took the three of them up to neck level of the Evangelions.

Suddenly, all three Eva's opened up at the base of each one's neck, revealing what Asuka assumed to be the spine. From there, the entry plugs appeared. It was now fairly obvious how to get in and Asuka got on with that task. Once inside, Asuka looked around and found that there wasn't much to see. It was just like being on the inside of a giant metal cylinder. However, that quickly changed when it was flooded with a strange, orange liquid. "What the…?!" Asuka cried as it moved up past her head. _Are they trying to kill me or something? _Asuka thought as she struggled to hold her breath. As it flooded so suddenly, Asuka hardly had any breath and began to gulp large amounts of the liquid in a desperate attempt to breathe. It was then Asuka found that she could breathe, despite being surrounded by this curious orange liquid.

"LCL flooding complete, continue with the start-up," she heard Dr Akagi say over the comm. link. Suddenly, a series of colours and patterns appeared all around the entry plug, like some sort of drugged hallucination until there was a clear picture of everything outside, as if she were sitting in a glass cockpit. "Start-up procedure completed without a problem," reported Maya Ibuki.

"Good, send the Evangelion's up to the catapult," Misato ordered. "All NERV personnel, prepare to relocate. We are going to Mount Asama."

Asuka watched as her Eva was moved along to what Misato described as the catapult. It was basically a vertical shaft that led straight up to the surface and Asuka watched as Rei in Unit 00 went first. One moment, her Eva Unit was there and the next, it had disappeared, shooting up towards the surface. Next was Shinji and Asuka had no idea what the sensation of shooting up at incredibly high speed would feel like. As her Eva was moved up to the catapult, she closed her eyes and braced herself.

* * *

_**Don't worry my sweet Asuka…it'll all be fine.**_

"What?!" Asuka exclaimed.

* * *

"Abort Unit 02's catapult launch!" Ritsuko cried.

"Done!" said Makoto Hyuga.

"What's the matter?" Misato asked.

"Asuka's harmonics just went into a feedback loop and we were recording a _negative_ synch ratio for a moment," Ritsuko replied, frantically studying the raw, live data she was getting from Unit 02's entry plug.

"A negative synch ratio? Is that even possible?" demanded Fuyutsuki.

"I never thought so," Ritsuko replied. "It only happened for a short moment, and that feedback loop has resolved itself."

"What is the pilot's current condition?" asked the Commander.

"Everything's nominal," Maya replied.

"Then launch the Eva," Gendo ordered.

"Sir, we don't know whether this will recur…" Ritsuko started to say.

"The problem has gone, correct?" Gendo interjected. "Then launch the Eva."

Ritsuko nodded her head reluctantly and said, "Yes sir."

Asuka was wondering what the commotion was about in Central Dogma. She had been waiting a while at the catapult to get launched. While she had been waiting, she was wondering whose voice she had heard. It was somewhat soothing and calming, but not knowing who or what said it added an element of uncertainty to it. "Okay, Asuka, sorry about the delay, there was a technical error," said Ritsuko over the comm. link. "Prepare for launch." Asuka leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes once more, preparing for the worst. Suddenly, she felt herself being pushed into her seat and the rush of the acceleration caught her by surprise. However, it was over as soon as it started and Asuka was on the surface.

"Okay, your Eva's are all fitted with the auxiliary battery packs that give you an extra half an hour's battery life. As soon as you reach Mount Asama, drop the auxiliary battery packs off and switch to the umbilical cables we have set up there," Misato said. "We'll meet up with you shortly."

"Why don't we use these battery packs instead of the umbilical cables when we fought the other angels?" Shinji asked.

"Because you sacrifice quite of a bit of the Eva's mobility to use them," Ritsuko answered. "They add considerable weight and strain to the Eva. Hence why it's much more efficient to use the umbilical cable system. Plus, those auxiliary battery packs don't come cheap."

"Okay, so we're just using them to cover a big distance?" Shinji said.

"Correct. Make your way to Mount Asama. There should be a temporary command post set up there," Misato ordered.

Unit 01 and Unit 00 immediately turned to the direction provided to them to reach Mount Asama. Asuka, however, was still getting to grips with how to control her Eva. Still, she was pleasantly surprised at how easy it for her to direct her Eva in the right direction and get it moving. It felt natural for her, somehow, and Asuka was relieved for it. "You're doing fine, Asuka," Shinji said over the radio.

"Thanks," Asuka said. "I guess you were right about piloting it."

Soon, all three Eva's were running at their quickest possible pace, heading towards Mount Asama. As they moved, Asuka was still trying to decipher the mysterious voice that she had heard. It sounded female and it had somehow brought a deep comfort to Asuka but she didn't know why. '_Don't worry my sweet Asuka…it'll all be fine.' Who would say something like that to me? _Asuka thought.

"Asuka, you are falling behind," said Rei over the comm. link.

"Huh? Crap, sorry," Asuka apologised, picking up the pace of her Eva. She hadn't been focusing on simply getting to where she needed to go, yet that still was proving difficult with that voice continuing to plague her concentration.

* * *

_**I will always be with you, my child…**_

* * *

Shinji watched in astonishment as Unit 02 suddenly collapsed to the ground behind him. Shinji forced his Eva to a halt, as did Rei. "Asuka?! Are you okay?" Shinji cried.

"I'm…I'm fine," was Asuka's strained reply. "Something happened…and I lost control." Much to the relief of Shinji and Rei, Unit 02 brought itself back to its feet and prepared to continue moving. "Do you know what happened?" Shinji asked.

"I…I don't know," Asuka said. "I just heard…something, and I lost complete control." She didn't go into the specifics of what she had heard, but that explanation would suffice for the time being. "Are you able to continue?" Rei inquired.

"Yeah, I'm good to go. Let's carry on," Asuka replied.

* * *

"It just happened again," muttered Ritsuko, staring at her laptop screen. She, along with Misato and several other NERV technicians were aboard a VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft which was bound for the temporary command post currently being set up at Mount Asama. "What happened again?" Misato asked.

"Asuka's harmonics went into a feedback loop and her synch ratio became negative all for about two seconds," Ritsuko answered. "After that, everything returned to normal."

"That's twice it's happened now," Misato noted. "You were right to be worried."

"The commander…I can't say I respect his decision. He risks losing both Unit 02 and Asuka which is something we can't afford at any cost. We've only just gotten all three Evas and pilots battle ready and suddenly, this bug appears with Unit 02. I would rather sit it out of this mission and investigate what the cause of the problem is after the operation."

"Commander Ikari is like that…he'll risk everything to succeed," Misato said.

Ritsuko frowned and added rather ominously, "Yes…he would."

The blonde doctor looked over the data from the two occurrences and found that everything was exactly the same. There was a harmonics feedback loop and a negative synch ratio but apart from that, Ritsuko had nothing. She had no idea what has caused it but it was seemingly random. Something was triggering it though and she needed to know what. Ritsuko quickly checked Asuka's vitals and found that there was nothing untoward. After typing furiously, she checked Asuka's vital signs against time elapsed and saw that there was a spike in Asuka's mental activity at each moment the problem had occurred. "Bingo," Ritsuko said.

"What? Have you found the source of the problem?" Misato asked.

"No, but I've got a big clue. Something caused Asuka to undergo severe mental strain, if only momentarily. I think that is what's causing the problem," Ritsuko said.

"Severe mental strain?" Misato said.

"Yes, but I don't know what it could be. It can't be any outside factor; that wouldn't be enough to cause such a severe problem. I think it's something to do with the Eva," Ritsuko said.

"Or maybe," Misato mused, "it's all in her head."

"In her head? It couldn't be," Ritsuko said dismissively. "This is definitely something and we need to find out."

"There's no way of pulling Asuka out of this, isn't there?" Misato asked.

"No, not with Commander Ikari's orders," Ritsuko said, grimacing at the thought of what an angel would do if Asuka were to suffer the same problem during battle.

* * *

The three Evangelion Units arrived at the temporary command post and immediately discard their auxiliary battery packs and switched to the umbilical cables set up in the area. Almost immediately after the arrival of the Evas, several VTOL landed, carrying the NERV crew required for the operation. Within five minutes, all the pilots were out of their Evas and in the command post, ready to be briefed. While the technicians were setting their computer terminals up, Misato began to explain the situation.

"Mount Asama erupted just before midnight and caused a minor earthquake which was felt around the surrounding area. This is no cause for concern normally, but we have discovered that the eruption was not natural. It was caused by the presence of an angel within the volcano itself," Misato explained.

"Inside the volcano?" Shinji asked.

"Correct," Misato replied. "Ritsuko?"

"From what we have learned, the angel was dormant in an embryonic form but awakened suddenly and without warning. This triggered the eruption and earthquake," Ritsuko said. "As far as we can see, the angel is inactive inside the volcano but could come out at any moment. So really, we have to wait for that moment and take the angel on when that happens."

"Well, that is if it comes out," Misato pointed out. "We don't know if it'll come out of the volcano."

"It can't do much sitting in a volcano. If it wants to do some real damage, it would somehow have to attack Tokyo-3," Ritsuko pointed out. "That means at some point, it will have to come out. I mean, we could attack it from within the volcano itself but our currently available equipment only allows us to do that with one Eva Unit. That's not an ideal situation where the angel's environment is the volcano. We'd be out of our depth."

"Ma'am, all the equipment is set up and starting up," reported Shigeru Aoba.

"Good. First priority is monitoring that volcano for any activity," Ritsuko said.

"Okay, so basically, we'll have you all on standby inside the Evas. Be ready if the angel does emerge from the volcano. Are you all clear on the mission plan?" Misato asked. She received nods from all the pilots. "Good, then head off to your Eva Units and await further orders," Misato said.

"Oh wait, Asuka," Ritsuko said. "Could you stay behind? I need to have a word with you."

Asuka walked up to Ritsuko, wondering what she had to say to her. She guessed it would have to do with her piloting of Eva possibly being inadequate. "Asuka," Ritsuko said, before clearing her throat. "Have you been experiencing any problems whilst piloting the Eva? Has anything disturbed your state of mind while you are piloting?" Ritsuko asked.

"My…state of mind?" Asuka said.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is that I've noticed two major disturbances in your synch profile, or your mental state, on two occasions. Firstly just before you were launched on the catapult and secondly while you were in transit to this forward command post. Do you have any idea what caused them?" Ritsuko said.

"Oh…that?" Asuka asked. "Well, I'm not too sure…but I think it's something to do with this voice I heard."

"A voice?" Ritsuko said.

"Yeah. It's female, and it's saying things like, 'don't worry my sweet Asuka, it'll all be fine.' It's creepy, but at the same time, it somehow comforts me," Asuka added.

"That sounds like how a mother would speak to her baby," Ritsuko noted.

"A mother? But why would I hear my mother's voice?" Asuka asked.

"I don't know. You tell me."

"To be honest, I'm not sure if that's my mother's voice or not. I don't remember," Asuka replied.

"That's right. Even with all your memories, you probably wouldn't have been able to remember her voice anyway because you were so young when she passed," Ritsuko said. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, that's all there is to it. The second time I heard that voice, I completely lost control of my Eva and even fell down," Asuka said.

"That was expected. My data would imply that you lost control," Ritsuko said. "Okay, you're free to go. If there's anything you need to know, then don't hesitate to raise either Misato or myself over the comm. link."

Once Asuka was back in her Eva, they were playing a waiting game, seeing if there would be any activity from the angel. That could be minutes or hours away, so the pilots decided to take it easy and chose to rest, while the NERV technicians kept a constant lookout for activity from the volcano. After around half an hour had past, Asuka opened up her comm. link to both other Eva Units and asked, "Shinji?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you…ever heard voices when you're piloting the Eva?" Asuka said.

"Voices? Um…no."

"Well, it's just like…I don't know, like someone is trying to speak to me and it feels like it's coming from the Eva," Asuka said.

"I don't know about voices," said Shinji. "But there is something. It feels like there's someone, or something in the Eva with me. It's strange, but comforting."

"I see," Asuka said. "I kind of understand. I mean, this feels like it's the first time I've ever piloted an Eva but thinking about it, I get what you mean."

Asuka then focused her attention on Rei. "What about you, Rei? Do you get that same feeling?"

"…Eva is the only place in which I feel truly home," Rei said.

"Really?" Asuka asked. "How can you say that?"

"I have nothing else," Rei replied.

"I can't believe that. Surely there must be more to your life than piloting Eva?" Asuka asked.

"If there is, then I have not found it," Rei replied.

"What about you? Is there more to your life than piloting Eva?" Shinji asked Asuka.

"Well, yeah. I mean, just going to school and speaking to my friends, you guys included. Hanging out with Misato and just, you know, enjoying myself! Piloting Eva isn't my life nor should it be," Asuka said. "I mean, I didn't even know how to pilot an Eva until today!"

She had no idea that her views were a stark contrast to an Asuka that dived deep into the magma of the volcano to combat that very same angel. "Well, don't you guys have anything to say?" Asuka inquired upon hearing nothing from either Shinji or Rei. Just at that moment, the ground began to tremble violently. At that same point, the volcano erupted and something very large flew out into the night sky before landing amidst a flow of lava at the base of the volcano.

* * *

"What the hell?!" Misato cried. "Turn on the floodlights! Illuminate the area, now!"

"Yes ma'am," replied Makoto.

"Is there any risk of the lava from the eruption reaching us?" Misato asked.

"Not presently," Shigeru answered.

"And any earthquake damage?" Misato said.

"None reported," Shigeru said.

"Okay, then," Misato said before switching over to the pilots' comm. link. "You are free to engage the angel! Take it out!"

On that order, Unit 00 and Unit 01 leapt forward and began to fire the rifles they were equipped with on arriving at the temporary command centre. Asuka, on the other hand, was a bit slower to react and had to refocus her mind on controlling the Eva. Once she got moving, she moved her Eva into the area brightly lit by floodlights set up to illuminate the angel should it appear. And they did their job perfectly. At the base of the volcano, surrounded by lava that was quickly cooling was an incredibly odd looking creature that was the eighth angel.

"Wait, Shinji, Rei, seize fire!" Misato ordered. The two complied with her demand. "Look at it," Misato said.

"It's like…a fish out of water," Asuka noted. "Look at it, flailing about!"

"That's crazy. We've never seen an angel look so helpless," Misato said.

"What should we do?" Shinji asked.

"Approach the angel…slowly," Ritsuko replied. "Be ready for anything."

"Rei, Asuka, move forward. Shinji, stay back and cover them with your rifle," Misato ordered.

Rei and Asuka slowly approached the angel which had stopped moving now. "This doesn't feel good at all," Asuka noted. She wouldn't have expected the angel to emerge from the volcano, just to end up out of its element. They moved slowly and cautiously and both Rei and Shinji had their rifles constantly pointed at the angel. "It appears…dead," Rei said.

"We can't confirm that from here," Maya Ibuki said.

"We should make sure if it is dead," Asuka said with her prog knife in hand. When the angel appeared, Asuka instinctively drew that weapon, not quite knowing how she remembered it was there. Now, she was drawing ever closer to the angel with Rei right by her side. "Be careful," Shinji warned, who was following his orders to stay back with his rifle locked onto the angel.

"I don't have a good feeling about this at all," Asuka said. Her worries were unexpectedly proved true when the angel suddenly tilted its head towards Unit 02, out of which came a stream of lava it had stored in its mouth. "NO ASUKA! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Shinji yelled as he began to open fire. However, Asuka couldn't move in time with her control of Eva not refined enough to allow her to react quickly enough. Expecting to be hit, Asuka closed her eyes, bracing for the impact, only to find that Unit 00 had jumped in the way and taken the full brunt of the angels attack. "REI!" Asuka cried.

Unit 00 collapsed backwards and Asuka managed to catch the stricken Eva. "Is Rei all right?!" Asuka cried.

"She's fine. The front body armour's taken a considerable amount of damage, but it's mainly superficial," Makoto reported.

"I am all right, Asuka," confirmed the pilot of Unit 00.

After that surprise attack, it appeared that the angel no longer had anything up its sleeve. It very much seemed like a last ditch effort the attack the Evangelions. "Okay then, let's see how you like this!" Asuka cried, grabbing the prog knife with both hands and thrusting it straight for the belly of the angel. It stopped, seemingly unable to pierce the angel's skin that was tough enough to stand the extreme temperature and pressure of molten lava but Asuka kept pressing, forcing all her and Unit 02's will into that blade.

"Asuka's synch ratio is shooting up!" Maya exclaimed. "70…80…90! It's nearly one hundred!"

"That's…incredible!" Ritsuko said.

Asuka pushed harder and harder, yelling out loud with the effort.

* * *

_**I will always be with you, Asuka.**_

* * *

The prog knife pierced the angel's skin and Unit 02 sliced right down, before retracting the knife and thrusting once more at the angel's exposed core. The core simply shattered and the angel's life was extinguished. "The angel is confirmed dead," Shigeru reported.

"Asuka, she did it!" Misato cried.

"Wait…" Ritsuko said. "It's that same problem! A harmonics feedback loop and a negative synch ratio! That attack we just saw was performed with a negative synch ratio!"

"What?! That isn't possible!" Misato said. "She shouldn't be able to move!"

"Well, she moved all right. Negative synch ratio or not," Ritsuko said. "What's happening with Unit 02? The feedback loop and the synch ratio haven't resolved themselves!"

"The harmonics feedback loop is getting out of control…complete shutdown in 3…2…1!"

Unit 02 collapsed to the ground after all its systems went completely offline. "Pilot status?" Misato asked frantically.

"There's no contact with Unit 02 at all!" Shigeru replied.

"No!" Misato yelled.

* * *

Shinji immediately dropped his rifle and ran towards Unit 02. He picked the red Evangelion up and used his prog knife to hack at the armour at the back of the Eva to allow the entry plug to be withdrawn. Upon placing Unit 02's entry plug on the ground, Shinji got out of his Eva as fast as possible. Rei also left the confines of Unit 00 and ran up to Shinji who was prying Unit 02's entry plug open. Once the door was opened, the two of them grabbed Asuka and pulled her out of the plug and placed her on the ground. "Asuka! Asuka!" Shinji cried, shaking her by the shoulders. Rei moved her ears closer to the redhead's face and listened intently. "She's not breathing," Rei said.

"What!" Shinji exclaimed. "We have to do something!"

"Can you perform CPR?" Rei asked.

"I think so…" Shinji said before looking down at the unconscious pilot. He then made sure she was lying flat on her back before clamping his hands together and placing them on her chest. He immediately began work on the chest compressions, hoping that he could be able to help her.

* * *

_Where am I?_ Asuka thought. Everything was dark except for the area in which she was standing which was illuminated.

_**My darling…**_

_That voice again. Who are you? What do you want with me?_

_**You cannot die yet my darling…there is still more for you to do.**_

_Die? What are you talking about?_

Suddenly, Asuka was in her classroom. She was alone, dressed in her school uniform. All the windows were open and a cool breeze slowly brushed past her skin. _What am I doing here? What's going on?_

"Hello Asuka. It is I, Kaworu. Do you remember me?" said a mysterious voice from behind her. Asuka snapped her head around before everything went black.

* * *

Shinji had performed three compression stages before moving onto his third stage of ventilation. He pinched Asuka's nose shot, tiled her head back to open the airway and placed his mouth over hers and breathed out into her mouth. He pulled his head back up again, took a deep breath and repeated the process. Upon lifted his head upon again, Asuka coughed and spluttered, LCL coming out of her mouth as she did. "Asuka!" Shinji cried. She couldn't reply however and brought herself up onto all fours before coughing several times and vomiting out a mixture of what had been in her stomach and the LCL she had coughed up out of her lungs.

"Asuka! Are you okay?" Shinji asked.

After coughing several times, Asuka replied weakly, "Yeah." The redhead then looked up at both Shinji and Rei before wrapping her arms around the both of them. "Thank you guys," she said. It was a situation that both Shinji and Rei weren't used to and it particularly caught Rei by surprise. Shinji managed a smile, while Rei blushed, not knowing what to do or say.

"Is everything all right?!" called out Misato. She was followed by a NERV medical team who had a defibrillator on hand just in case they needed to use it. "Yeah, everything's fine Misato," Shinji said. Misato saw Asuka embracing the other two pilots and smiled in relief. Shinji and Rei handed Asuka over to the medical personnel who gave her a quick check up on the spot before deciding to have her airlifted to the NERV hospital. As the medical team were about to walk off, Shinji asked, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," replied one. "We're just taking her to the hospital as a precaution and to make sure no complications arise. You performed CPR on her, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah, I did," Shinji replied.

"Well done, kid. That was some smart thinking. It would have been a great help if we had needed to use the defibrillator."

"Uh, well, it was actually Rei's idea. I just did it," Shinji pointed out.

"Ah, then my hat goes off to you too, little lady. Well done you two."

The medical team let Asuka walk on her own two feet but still assisted her as she walked away to one of the VTOL aircraft. Once they were out of sight, Misato looked towards the two pilots left remaining. "I never knew you could do CPR, Shinji. When did you learn how to do that?" Misato asked.

"Paramedics from the Tokyo-3 Ambulance Service came to our school one day and gave us basic CPR instruction. It was part of the school's 'staying safe in the community' scheme, or something like that," Shinji replied.

"I guess it came in handy, huh? And great thinking Rei. You didn't hesitate to suggest doing CPR," Misato added with a smile.

"…Thank you, ma'am," Rei said, nodding her head.

"Anyway, let's get out of here," Misato said. "I can't stand looking at that dead angel anymore."

* * *

Well into the early hours of the morning, Ritsuko was working away back at NERV headquarters, compiling her report on the anomaly seen in Unit 02 during that operation. 'The first two occurrences were almost identical,' she typed, 'but the third such occurrence stood out as both the feedback loop in the harmonics of the pilot as well as the negative synch ratios persisted up to the point of a complete and total shutdown of the Unit. Never has such a phenomenon been recorded during previous synch and harmonic tests with the pilots or any operation up until this point.'

Ritsuko leaned back and took another sip of her coffee before scanning over what she had written already. Satisfied, she pulled out a cigarette from the inside pocket of her lab coat and placed it in her mouth before lighting it. She knew that it was a bad habit, but whenever she was working late, she tended to drink too much coffee and consume a copious amount of cigarettes, sometimes chain smoking. This cigarette was just one of many that would be consumed until dawn or when she finished this report.

As Ritsuko prepared to start typing again, she heard footsteps from behind her. Noting the slow pace and the heavy nature of the steps, she knew exactly who it was. "It's not like you to come out of your office," Ritsuko said without turning her head.

"Have you discovered the source of Unit 02's problem?" Gendo asked.

"No," Ritsuko replied. "By the way, Asuka was released from hospital an hour ago."

"Then we still have three fully fit pilots," Gendo noted.

"It was your son who performed CPR on her," Ritsuko added, with a smile.

"…I see," Gendo said. "As long as all three pilots are fit, then anything else is of no concern to me."

"Not even Unit 02's little problem?"

"It only becomes a problem if it hinders the ability to combat the angels. I haven't seen any evidence of that."

"Well, it certainly hindered the pilot's ability to breathe, that's for sure," Ritsuko added.

"If you are that concerned, then do what you must to ascertain the cause," the Commander said. "Is your report finished?"

"Hardly," Ritsuko said, blowing some smoke Gendo's way.

"Very well," said the commander, before walking off.

Ritsuko moved forward to continue typing and muttered to herself, "Not even a 'hello' or a 'how are you?' He didn't even flinch when I told him about Shinji doing CPR on Asuka. I have never known a colder bastard in my whole life."


	6. Are You My Friend?

6. Are You My Friend?

"That's the latest report anyway." The NERV doctor's words did little to reassure either Misato or Shinji. In fact, they managed to unsettle Misato more. "You mean she never suffered cardiac arrest at all?" she asked.

"There's very little chance someone her age could naturally suffer from it randomly. Plus, in her current condition, it seems unlikely that there was anything wrong with her at all," the doctor explained.

"Then…what about after that battle?" Shinji asked, sounding more assured than he usually would when dealing with people he didn't know.

"That has us stumped as well. My guess is she simply stopped breathing, but that doesn't just happen either. As to the cause…well, your guess is as good as mine."

Misato frowned, but it was the best that they were going to get. "Okay. Thank you very much doctor," Misato said.

"It's no problem whatsoever. When young Asuka wakes up she'll be ready for immediate discharge," the doctor said with a smile before moving on to other issues that would soon occupy his morning. Misato looked toward Shinji who was characteristically quiet. It was sometimes difficult to tell whether he was just being himself or whether something was bothering him. It was much easier to gauge someone who talked a lot, or was very animated because you could immediately see when something was wrong. Shinji, on the other hand, was quiet and kept to himself as part of who he was. Nevertheless, Misato hazarded a guess as to why he kept quiet this morning.

"You're still the one who saved her life," the NERV operations officer offered, providing this solace to the pilot of Unit 01.

"I…I still had Rei's help," Shinji was quick to point out.

Misato smiled, "Yes, of course. But you still gave Asuka a bit of your life so she could live." It was unusually lyrical for something Misato would say. She quite liked it. Shinji blushed slightly before turning his attention to the closed door of Asuka's recovery room. Misato noted how Shinji liked to hear words of praise, yet sometimes how he was so bad at accepting it. Not in a negative way but in a sweet, awkward way. That's how Misato saw it anyway. "You know, you're so cute when you blush!" Misato laughed.

"Misato!" Shinji cried. "Not in the hospital!"

"What? It's true!"

The mauve haired woman chuckled at Shinji's expense, who sometimes found his guardian unbearable, although it wasn't unbearable in a bad way, more like an embarrassing parent. That wasn't a new idea in Shinji's mind either. Because he never knew his mother and he might as well not know his father, Misato had become the parent figure in his life, yet sometimes he considered her as a sort of older sister, simply because of the way she acted. Shinji didn't consider Misato responsible to be a parent as of yet. Ironically, he trusted her with his life when it came to piloting Eva. Even with his doubts as to Misato's potential to be a parent, he was glad at least to be connecting with her on some level, at least.

"Anyway, shouldn't you go to school soon? If you stay any longer, you'll end up being late," Misato pointed out.

"This is a good enough excuse to be late, isn't it?" Shinji asked.

Misato grinned, "You really care about Asuka, don't you?"

"What? I didn't say that!" Shinji exclaimed. "Misato…you're putting words in my mouth!"

"You're blushing again!" Misato pointed out gleefully.

"Ah…Misato!" Shinji cried.

* * *

The night had been a sleepless one for Dr Ritsuko Akagi, keeping herself going on coffee and cigarettes. The data she was analysing wasn't giving any conclusive answers. At the moment Asuka lost consciousness inside her Eva, there was a mental disturbance within her mind but Ritsuko had no idea what caused it. There were no outer influences on Unit 02 and it was difficult to get to the bottom of what was happening inside of Unit 02. All that data was a mess because of the feedback loop and the synch ratio that was apparently negative. The negative synch ratio annoyed her because it shouldn't be possible. Ritsuko even did calculations with the MAGI and the code ended up dividing itself by zero which implied an impossibility. Several hours and twenty chained smoked cigarettes later, she was no closer to an answer.

Her report on the incident had been completed earlier on with the conclusion basically stating that she had no idea what was going on. It wouldn't please the commander but that was the honest truth that she had provided in her report. If he wanted something more, then he would have to get it himself because Ritsuko was having enough trouble. Yet while it proved such a pain, it intrigued her. She hadn't had anything this interesting to work on in a long time and in the process rediscovering that workaholic attitude that Misato kept referring to. Ritsuko wouldn't go as far to say that she enjoyed being utterly stumped on an issue of Evangelion science, but nevertheless it provided her with a challenge for the coming weeks.

"Good morning, Doctor," greeted Maya Ibuki. Ritsuko hadn't really noticed the time and was surprised to see everyone arriving for work. "Ah, hello Maya," Ritsuko said.

"Did you arrive in early?" Maya inquired.

"No, I was in all night, working on my report and doing some research," Ritsuko replied.

"You shouldn't work yourself so hard, doctor," Maya said with a smile.

"I know, but the incident with Unit 02 just keeps going around in circles and I want to get to the bottom of it," Ritsuko explained. "Here, see this data the MAGI had on the so called negative synch ratio we were witnessing."

Maya took the printout from Ritsuko and began scanning through it. "The code…it doesn't work for any synch ratio of zero or less," Maya said.

"Hence our current understanding allows only a positive synch ratio. All the math's been done on this," Ritsuko said. "These calculations don't allow for anomalies like this. Either we've done all the work on Evangelion synch ratios wrong or this is something completely new."

"I don't think the research is wrong on the synch ratios. It usually works fine," Maya noted.

"Exactly. So this is possibly something completely new and previously undocumented," Ritsuko said. "I think we need to conduct some tests on Unit 02. Maya, can you assist me?"

"Uh, sure, I had nothing to do this morning anyway," Maya said before following the blonde doctor to the cages.

After that interaction, Shigeru Aoba turned towards Makoto Hyuga and said, "Maya always finds an excuse to work with Dr Akagi."

"And what are you implying by that?" Makoto asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, nothing," Shigeru said with a smile. "I meant nothing by it at all." The two had a laugh before starting their day's work.

* * *

Kaji was up in the commander's office, although not for the first time in his NERV career. He entered NERV HQ that morning, only to be immediately called up by Commander Ikari. "So, what have you found out for us, Kaji?" Gendo asked.

"From what I've heard, Unit 02 wasn't sabotaged in any way and nobody was planning to do so," Kaji replied.

"Not even the old men?" Fuyutsuki inquired.

"If my contacts are to be believed, then not even the old men, Professor," Kaji said.

"What about the possibility of Unit 02 being sabotaged on the ship across to Japan?" Gendo asked.

"I've looked into that but everything suggests otherwise. We wouldn't have known anyway because it was impossible to recover Unit 02 at the time it landed here," Kaji answered. "I would rule sabotage out because everything has been working well up until now. Have you gotten Dr Akagi to look at the problem?"

"She's been working on the problem. Her latest report gives an inconclusive verdict as to the cause of the problem," Fuyutsuki replied.

"So everybody's been stumped with this, huh?" Kaji chuckled.

He received no answer from the two commanders. Gendo sat in his usual fashion with both his hands clasped in front of his face. "That will be all, Kaji," Gendo said after a moment's pause. With that, Kaji about faced and promptly left the presence of the commanders. He knew they weren't the best of people to socialise with and was happy to be away from them. Along with that, he knew that they were hiding something from everybody and it was something Kaji was very intent on finding out. As he made his way through NERV, he noticed Misato walking toward him, accompanied by both Shinji and Asuka.

"Well, hello there Misato," Kaji greeted. "How are you this morning?"

"Not so great, now that I've seen you," Misato muttered.

"I'm great too," Kaji chuckled. "Hey Shinji, hey Asuka. How's it going?"

"I'm okay," Shinji replied with a weak smile.

"You're…Kaji?" Asuka asked, just managing to remember her old guardian.

"That's me. I'm glad you remember," Kaji said with a smile. "Shinji, I heard about your lifesaving skills."

"Oh? It was…something I had to do," Shinji said.

"Shinji's a good friend Asuka. You should stick around with him," Kaji added.

"Will do, Mr Kaji!" Asuka said with a smile.

"'Kaji' is just fine Asuka," he said, returning Asuka's grin. "So Misato, where are you headed?"

"None of your business," Misato snapped.

"Shinji, where are you guys headed?" Kaji said, trying another approach.

"Well, Misato is just taking me to school before dropping off Asuka at home," Shinji replied.

"SHINJI?! YOU'RE NOT MEANT TO…" Misato cried.

"Sounds good. Misato, mind if I tag along?" Kaji inquired. "We could go for some coffee after you drop the kids off."

"W-w-what?! What the hell are you trying to pull here?!" Misato demanded.

"Nothing. I was just wondering..."

"Yeah, I know, coffee. Sorry, but I'm working," Misato interjected.

"So am I. What's an hour going to hurt? Unless an angel attacks, you're not needed here at all!" Kaji pointed out.

"No, an angel could attack at any time. Unless you haven't noticed, they don't exactly work to our schedule!" Misato said.

"Come on. It'll be my treat," Kaji pressed.

"Argh…fine! If it'll shut you up!" Misato said, fed up with Kaji's constant badgering. "Have I ever told you that you're unbearable?"

To that, Kaji just grinned.

* * *

After Misato dropped Shinji off at school and Asuka at her flat, she drove to a café not far from where she lived. "So, what is it?" Misato asked once the two had ordered their coffees and sat down.

"Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to catch up," Kaji replied.

"So you dragged me away from work just to catch up?!" Misato exclaimed.

"Admit it; when there's nothing going on you're bored as hell in there," Kaji said.

"Well…I will say there's not a lot to do on a regular work day," Misato said while turning her head away. "Anyway, what's with this sudden urge to catch up?"

"Isn't it obvious? I haven't seen you in eight years!" Kaji pointed out.

"There isn't a lot to catch up on," Misato said.

"Apart from the fact that you're living with two adolescents and a penguin."

"How'd you find out about Pen-Pen?"

"Oh? I just heard you were living with a penguin," Kaji chuckled.

Their coffees arrived and Kaji went about pouring milk into it and stirring it slowly and carefully. Misato was less cautious, stirring a lot more violently, almost to the point of spilling her coffee. "Anyway, how is it? With the kids, I mean," Kaji asked.

"Well…I thought it had been a good idea, you know? I didn't want Shinji staying on his own and Asuka was more than happy to stay at my place. Still…I don't know what to make of it. Shinji…I don't know whether he's happy or not. It's hard to tell with him. I mean, he's content enough to help out with the chores but I just don't know whether he's happy or not. And then you know all about Asuka. Just how do you speak to a girl who's lost her memory?" Misato answered before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Are you happy?" Kaji said.

Misato blinked in surprise. "Am I happy?"

"Well, that's what I asked, isn't it?" Kaji said.

"I don't know. I can't complain at least," Misato said. "I can't tell whether I'm really happy or not. Anyway, why are you asking me this?"

"I'm just curious, that's all. Like I said, eight years have gone on by," Kaji said.

"What about you then? Tell me what you've been doing?" Misato asked.

"Just going about my work and dealing with Asuka's apparent crush on me," Kaji said.

"Asuka had a crush on you?!" Misato exclaimed.

"One of those schoolgirl things. You didn't notice on the ship across?" Kaji asked.

"No, not at all," Misato said.

"Hmm. That's right, she started acting all weird all of a sudden, just before you guys arrived on the ship," Kaji noted. "Anyway, none of that matters, especially with her losing her memory."

"She's getting better with the memory thing and she can still pilot Eva so that's okay," Misato said. "She's also been on good terms with Shinji. Well, that's while I've been home, anyway."

"That's always a good thing. Shinji's the type who finds it hard to make friends, isn't he?"

"Yeah, although he has got a couple of friends from school. In fact, he's not doing too badly."

"Oh? That's good. And Asuka, has she made any friends at school?"

"Well, there was this one girl, their class rep, Hikari I think her name is. She was asking for Asuka when she was unconscious a while back. Apart from her, I don't really know. I'm not sure whether to call Shinji and Asuka friends but they're about as much."

"Speaking of friends," Kaji said, "are you and Ritsuko still friends?"

"I guess so. We still go for drinks when she's not busy, which is all the time," Misato muttered. "She's such a workaholic, it's incredible."

"Scientist types are always like that, huh?" Kaji chuckled.

"Ritsuko is the worst type though. She's the kind that will stay in overnight and forget to ask for overtime," Misato said. "If I work extra hours, I'll be damned if I don't get paid for them!"

"I see. Anyway, the three of us should get together for a drink sometime. It'll be just like old times," Kaji said.

"Well, almost like old times. You and I aren't dating," Misato pointed out.

"Yes, there's that," Kaji agreed with a quick laugh.

"You know, I thought this would be horrendously awkward knowing that we have a history but it's not been that bad," Misato noted. "You're an easy guy to talk to."

"Thank you Misato. You've been good company as well. Skiving off work for an hour doesn't seem like such a bad idea now, does it?" Kaji asked.

"No, it doesn't," Misato agreed. "Anyway, shouldn't we be heading back?"

"Do you want to head back?"

"Well, not really."

"Then there's your answer."

"Kaji…have I ever told you that I hate you?" Misato said with a smile.

"Yes. Many, many times."

* * *

It had been decided that Asuka would stay off school that day to help her recover even though the doctor had declared that there wasn't actually anything wrong with her. Misato however, hadn't been willing to take any chances hence Asuka being allowed the day off school. She found she had little to do, and wasted the time away in front of the TV. However, her mind was flowing with the events of the previous 24 hours. There was little she could do to stop herself thinking about what had happened. _Whose voice did I hear? _Asuka asked of herself. She stared blankly into the television. On it was a breaking news story on the latest encounter with an angel.

"Joining me today is a world renowned theorist on the conspiracy behind Second Impact and beyond…" the news anchor said.

It was clear to her that the TV would provide her with no answers. _It felt like I knew that voice, _Asuka thought. _A female voice, a soothing comforting one, yet it scared the hell out of me. Who could it be?_

"Thank you, I'm glad to be here."

"So, to start off, in your opinion, what exactly are the angels?"

"Well, as far as I'm aware…"

_And who was that other person? I dreamed I was in my classroom at school and I heard another voice. This time, it was male and it was so much more…I'm not sure how to describe it. He sounded…cocky? Smug? That's it probably._

"…I mean, some theorise that they are really messengers of God. I'm doubtful of that. I think the term 'angel' is just a codename devised by this NERV organisation. What I think is that the angels, judging by their appearances, may be extraterrestrial in origin."

"So you suggesting that, what, the angels may be alien?"

"Well, not in the sense that each angel flew down from space, but yes, in a matter of speaking, they are alien. I guess a better way to put it…"

_Shinji…I guess I owe you one. Had it not been for you, I would have died out there. Still, getting saved by CPR seems almost cheesy. _Asuka chuckled out loud at the thought. It was cheesy in that Shinji had to 'kiss' her in a way to resuscitate her. _Shinji's not a bad guy, _Asuka thought. _He's been really nice to me and he's helped me a lot, not to mention having saved my life. He doesn't seem like your stereotypical hero type though. He's more the quiet kid…then again, it's always the quiet ones that surprise you._

"…so that so called meteorite impact 15 years ago that apparently triggered the Second Impact, well, maybe that was something to activate these dormant angels."

"Okay, so you're saying that angels have been dormant having been planted on our planet several years ago and that Second Impact somehow awoke them?"

"That's my prevailing hypothesis, yes."

"Hmm, that is interesting. And what do you think of NERV's means of fending off the angels?"

"Well, while it may seem crude using a giant robot, it prevails where our armed forces fail. I for one will support anything NERV do to stop these angels."

Asuka switched the TV off, having heard enough of pointless speculation that would leave people with more questions than answers. It seemed to relate to her situation, because all she had were questions without a conceivable answer in sight. As well as that, while she was beginning to learn different facts that she had forgotten after losing her memory, it was that she had no understanding of those facts that was bothering her. She had no understanding of anything, yet she was thrust right into the deep end of everything like it didn't matter. She wanted answers and she felt like she had to stop at nothing to get them.

* * *

Shinji was eating his lunch with Toji and Kensuke while thinking about different, but not wholly unconnected things. He too was wondering about the things he struggled to understand in life, although he was happy that Asuka was alive and well. "So, Shinji, I've heard reports that you had to get up close and personal to Asuka on the job! Can you confirm or deny this?" Kensuke asked.

"Up close and…what do you mean by that?!" exclaimed Shinji, taken aback by the question concerning the life of one of his fellow pilots.

"Well, it's just that I heard you and Asuka got close somehow. I don't know how, I'm just wondering whether you can tell me whether it's true or not!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"Asuka stopped breathing after the fight with the last angel. I had to perform CPR on her. That's it," Shinji said.

"Holy crap…sorry man, I didn't know it was that serious," Kensuke apologised.

"It's okay," said Shinji, knowing that Kensuke didn't mean anything bad by it.

"You should stop snooping around you know. It could get you into trouble one of these days," Toji noted, who was in the process of digging into his fourth sandwich of his lunch. "And Shinji, sounds like you're a real lifesaver."

"It was just something I had to do," Shinji noted.

"Still, it's a good deed more than any of us. I mean, how many of us guys can say we saved a hot girl?" Toji asked with a chuckle. "Also, you've been pretty tight with her since she lost her memory and shit."

"Somebody's got to do it, right?" Shinji asked with a weak smile.

"Somebody doesn't have to be you though. You know, if I'd known you were this kind of guy, I would have never hit you back when you first showed here," Toji said.

"That's ancient history," Shinji noted. "Still, I think that Asuka's my friend. I don't what she'd make of that, but I think she's a friend."

"You two sure seem like friends anyway," Kensuke noted. "Toji, is that your _fourth_ sandwich?"

"Yeah? Why?" Toji asked.

"You eat so much but you can keep that kind of figure," Kensuke said.

"It's called exercise. You should try it some day."

"Very funny."

Shinji smiled, happy that he was in the company of friends again rather than in the cockpit of an Evangelion faced with a constant struggle to survive. He was just managing to adjust to normal life after living alone for many years and then he was burdened with another strife as soon as he arrived in Tokyo-3. Still, at least he could share the burden with others. "Excuse me. Shinji?" That quiet voice could only have belonged to Rei Ayanami. Shinji looked her way and saw her standing up in front of him. "Uh, hi Rei," Shinji greeted.

"I was wondering whether Asuka is well or not," Rei inquired.

"Yeah, she's fine. She was released from the hospital this morning," Shinji replied.

"I see. That is…good, isn't it?" Rei said before turning away and leaving their company.

"Yes…it is," Shinji said quietly, even though Rei had already left.

"She's a complete oddball, that Rei," Toji noted.

"Well, apart from her stunning body and her moody yet sultry face, she does seem to have a weird personality," Kensuke said. "But hey, we knew that already, right?"

"You could have just said good looking," Toji muttered.

"It wouldn't have done her justice. Come to think of it…Misato, Asuka and Rei. Shinji's a lucky devil to have them as his workmates!" Kensuke said. "Not to mention being able to pilot Eva!"

"Please. Do you still want to be an Eva pilot?" Toji asked.

"Hell yeah!" Kensuke replied with quite an amount of enthusiasm in his voice.

"Shinji, please tell him that he won't ever be a pilot," Toji said.

However, Shinji's mind was in another world. Rei's simple words somehow struck Shinji as a reminder with how fragile human life was. Asuka could have been dead today and when Rei asked him how she was, Shinji could have said that she had died tragically in the hospital, something beyond all of their control. Shinji had experienced death through the loss of his mother and he hadn't quite appreciated how each of their lives were on a tether every time they stepped foot inside an Eva.

"Shinji?" Toji asked of his friend again.

"Huh? Sorry, I was thinking," Shinji replied.

"It's okay," Toji chuckled. "Just say Kensuke will never be an Eva pilot!"

"Kensuke…will never be an Eva pilot?" Shinji asked.

"See? Shinji thinks so too!" Toji cried.

"Shinji!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"What?! Was it something I said?" Shinji asked, having no idea what was going on.

* * *

Asuka was surprised to hear the front door opening before anybody was meant to be home. She peered around from the hallway to see who it was, although the voices she heard gave it away. "No…not in here Kaji. Asuka's still in," Misato said.

"What's one kiss going to hurt?" Kaji asked.

"I can't believe I'm doing this with you," Misato muttered. Asuka decided it would be best not to show herself and attempted to stay hidden in the hallway. She could clearly hear the two kissing and wondered why. It had sounded like Misato was doing her best to avoid Kaji earlier that morning. "That's better," Kaji said.

"Idiot! I can't even remember what I came back here for!" Misato cried. "What was it…my purse? Yeah, it was my purse; I left it in the kitchen…somewhere. Ah, found it!"

"Can we go now?" Kaji asked.

"Yes we can! I sure hope Asuka didn't hear us," Misato said.

"It won't bother her if she does!" Kaji laughed.

Next, Asuka heard the sound of the front door closing, leaving her with the knowledge that Kaji and Misato were involved with each other, although she wouldn't have guessed as much from the exchange they had that morning. Still, it gave something Asuka something to think about, albeit slightly more trivial than her previous concerns and more to do with the fact that she was a teenager still going through adolescence.

It was only when Shinji returned home that Asuka could find out what she wanted to know. "Hey Shinji, how was school?"

"School? It was…okay, I guess. Rei wanted to know how you were doing," Shinji replied.

"Oh? That was nice of her," Asuka said. "You know, I was wondering Shinji, did I have a boyfriend before I lost my memory?"

Shinji blinked in astonishment to Asuka's question, "A…boyfriend?"

"Yeah, do you know if I had one or not?"

"Well, as far as I know you don't, but that's just here in Japan. You might have had one in Germany," Shinji replied, not quite feeling comfortable with the conversation.

"You know…I get the feeling I didn't," Asuka chuckled. "Well, what about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"

This time Shinji's face went a red comparable to that of Asuka's hair, "Uh…no. Why are you so interested anyway?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Asuka said. "Have you kissed a girl before?"

"WHAT?!" Shinji exclaimed.

"You heard me," Asuka chuckled.

"Yeah, I heard you, it's just…all these questions," Shinji muttered.

"Well, just answer it and you don't have to deal with the fuss!" Asuka said.

"Um…no, I haven't," Shinji replied sheepishly.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Asuka chuckled. "I don't think I have either. Another thing we have in common?"

"Uh, I guess so," Shinji said. "I still don't know why you're asking me this all of a sudden."

"It's nothing. Just something random that popped into my head," Asuka said.

"Yeah, it was pretty random," Shinji muttered.

Asuka laughed at how flustered Shinji had become on the subject matter she had chosen to talk about. However, she didn't know if it was quite right to tell Shinji that she had seen Misato and Kaji kissing. She decided to let it ride out for a while rather than to spill it all to Shinji, as she had no idea how Shinji would take that information. "Is Misato back?" Shinji asked.

"Uh, I don't know when she finishes today," Asuka replied. And technically, that was the truth. "She told she would be back by the time I got back from school," Shinji pointed out.

"I don't know. Maybe she got caught up in something at work," Asuka answered. Now she was lying. She knew that Misato had been with Kaji during the day and that was probably why she was late home.

"Oh well. If she's late back, then she's late back," Shinji noted. He then swallowed hard before facing Asuka. "Um…Asuka?"

"Hmm?" the redhead replied.

"Would you say that…know you…that we're…uh…"

"Come on, spit it out Shinji!" Asuka said with a smile.

"Agh! I mean, uh, would you say that…would you say that we're friends?" Shinji said, nearly shouting the last part of his fragmented sentence.

"Well…yeah, I would say we are. Why are you asking?"

"Ah, I, uh, well, I was just wondering, whether…whether we were friends or not…and stuff…" Shinji said, breaking into a sweat.

"You know…you're quite cute when you're all nervous like that!" Asuka chuckled.

"Ah! I, uh, I'm going for a…lie down, in my…room," Shinji said before heading off as quickly as he could, prompting Asuka to burst out laughing.

_Shinji, you really are something else. One night, you're my knight in shining armour, saving my life and the next day, you're a nervous and shy boy, _Asuka thought whilst a grin was firmly planted on her face. _Shinji Ikari…you really are one of a kind._

* * *

Ritsuko stared up at the four eyes of Evangelion Unit 02 and sighed in frustration. "Every single test along with every repeat matched nominal results," Maya noted. "All the data suggests that there's nothing wrong with Unit 02 at all."

"Yet the evidence in combat yesterday seems to…no, _does_ tell us that something is definitely wrong," Ritsuko noted.

"All systems…life support, nerve connections…nothing seems to indicate that anything went wrong at all," Maya added. "Even those incidents where Asuka seemed to go under severe mental strain…there's no record of this at all in the Eva's data log."

"Then what could it be?" Ritsuko asked. She was sure that the answers were right in front of her in that red Evangelion but no luck was to be had or found. The problem lay in that there was nothing physical to substantiate any sort of hypothesis as to why Unit 02 performed the way it did. Then, something struck Ritsuko.

"It's not Unit 02," the blonde doctor noted.

"What do you mean? Maya asked. Ritsuko began to walk away from Unit 02 with her head down. Maya quickly followed after her, wondering what her new theory was. "It's not Unit 02 at all," Ritsuko said. "It's Asuka. It's all in her mind."


	7. Blackout

7. Blackout

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the horrendously late update! I am a lazy ass, I know. Hopefully when the summer hits I'll be more frequent with the updates. Until then...exams! Anyway, here's the new chapter!

* * *

"That same dream again," Asuka whispered as she awoke, staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom. She had now had the same dream again for several nights running but it was different from any of the other dreams she had experienced previously. She would be inside the entry plug of Unit 02, surrounded by white Angels, or what she assumed to be Angels. They all had wings and freakish, reptilian faces that seemed to sadistically smile at her. They would slowly approach her Eva while she seemed incapable of moving. Then, as they circled Unit 02 and crucified it against a massive stone crucifix, she would hear the soft and calming voice of a woman saying, "Don't worry my dear…it will soon be over." That's when the dream stopped. That's when Asuka awoke, staring at her ceiling, not feeling afraid from the nightmare. Instead, she felt empty and devoid of emotion. There was nothing there at all and that was what worried her.

The redhead looked to her left and her alarm clock read 04:26. She wanted to get back to sleep but every time she had this dream, sleep never came back to her. Instead, she'd either lie in her bed, trying to force herself to sleep but instead waiting the hours away or staying up in the living room, watching whatever was on TV or sitting in the kitchen, pouring herself a bowl of cereal but never managing to finish it. This dream was consuming hours of her sleep but she couldn't bring herself to tell anybody or begin to comprehend the events that unfolded in that dream. The one person she felt like she could tell was Shinji, but even then she severely doubted that he could shed any light as to the meaning of her dream.

As Asuka moved to the kitchen, she wondered if there was anybody who could help her with these dreams she seemed to keep having. She knew that the dream about her mother was a repressed memory but the ones she had since couldn't possibly be repressed memories because she knew that they have only ever encountered Angels one at a time. It made no sense and the dream was incredibly haunting. She sat alone in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal which she slowly ate whilst she stared at the space in front of her. What was the meaning of her dream? And why did she keep on having it? As the moonlight from the window softly stroked her skin, she lost herself in thought. With no memory, all she had were the events and the dreams she had from the past weeks and nothing else.

As the time past on, she found that she had barely touched her cereal, instead, becoming entranced within her own mind for almost ten minutes. Feeling tired, she decided that she needed to try to get back to sleep, even if it had proved futile previously. She walked slowly, her bare feet barely making a sound on the wooden floor. As she lay in bed, she noticed that her alarm clock was off. However, she was too tired to do anything about it. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep for the first time after having this dream and she hoped that this dream would finally leave her sleep once and for all.

* * *

"What's going on?" Misato asked.

"I'll give you one guess," Ritsuko muttered as she fumbled around, looking for the drawer at her desk. The reason why Ritsuko was fumbling was that she couldn't see anything at all. All the lights and every piece of electrical equipment had inexplicably turned off all at once. It had happened suddenly and instantaneously which had caught everybody in NERV off guard. "The emergency generator should come on in a moment," Ritsuko said as she turned her torch on, provided at least some light in the pitch black command centre.

"The emergency generator is on," reported Makoto Hyuga, who had a very dim display on his screen. "But it's only working at 25 percent power. 23 percent of that power has been automatically directed to the MAGI."

"Are you kidding? 25 percent? That means barely any power is going to life support or to powering the Evas," Ritsuko noted.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Makoto Hyuga said.

"Just when night shift was about to end as well," Misato muttered as she pulled out her own torch. "This kind of thing isn't meant to happen, right?"

"All the generators should never all go off at once like this and even the emergency generator has a back up," Ritsuko replied. "This all points to one thing."

"Sabotage," Misato said, completing Ritsuko's suspicion.

"Exactly."

"Should we hunt the bastards down?" Misato wondered out loud.

"When you can't see a thing and most likely won't be able to breathe at any of the lower levels? Decide for yourself," Ritsuko muttered.

"I wasn't actually considering it," Misato pointed out.

"Yes, yes, I believe you," Ritsuko said nonchalantly. "Anyway, we better get some candles lit. I don't think anybody knows when the power is going to come back on."

"Are either of the commanders present?" Misato inquired.

"For night shift? Not on your life," scoffed Shigeru.

"Aoba's right. I don't think either of them are here," Ritsuko agreed. "Looks like you're in charge Misato."

"Great. Let's just hope an angel doesn't attack," Misato muttered.

* * *

"Shinji?" Asuka asked. "Is there any reason why the fridge isn't on?"

"Nothing is on all around the house," Shinji said. "And I checked the electrical board. Everything's on. It must be a power outage in this block."

"That's a bit crap," Asuka muttered. "Look's like it's cereal, warm milk and bread that's not toasted."

"It's not that bad," Shinji said with a weak smile. "At least we have food to eat."

If those weren't famous last words, then it was hard to define what were. "I can't believe there was no food left in Misato's flat! When was the last time we went shopping?" Asuka asked.

"I don't know," Shinji replied while looking about. "Sorry."

"Shinji, you know you don't have to say sorry. The fact that Misato is a bit careless isn't your fault," Asuka said.

"I know," Shinji replied, not really paying attention to what Asuka had said, rather looking at the traffic lights that weren't on. In fact, Shinji was quickly noticing that nothing that ran on electricity was switched on. "This place looks nice," Asuka said, standing outside of a café. "Wait…it isn't open! Isn't anybody in there?"

"Asuka, I think the power outage is citywide," Shinji pointed out.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. Look around. The traffic lights aren't on and there are policemen all over the streets. All the shops are closed as well," Shinji added.

"Hey…you're right," Asuka said. "That explains a lot."

The two looked around as traffic accumulated in the city centre on their walk to school and their search for breakfast. Such was modern society's dependence on electricity that everything fell apart without it. Shinji could already make out several accident scenes where there had been inadequate control of traffic. Most places weren't open because they couldn't function without electricity. No cafes or restaurants were open because they couldn't cook or produce food and drinks. No shops were open because the lights would come on and their cash registers wouldn't work without electricity. Almost everything that made modern society what it was depended on electricity and without it, nothing functioned. Everything fell apart and it would be absolute chaos here in Tokyo-3 had the police not taken to the streets in their numbers.

"Do you think school will still be running?" Asuka asked.

"School always finds a way to run," Shinji replied with a sigh. "I'm still hungry though."

"Me too," Asuka said. "Trust Misato to forget to go shopping before the day of a citywide blackout." Shinji smiled meekly at Asuka before the two continued their walk towards school. There was a vain hope in the back of both of their minds that school would be cancelled but as they approached the building, they saw pupils walking in which dashed all their hopes.

The two entered class 2-A where the entire class was there, looking glum that everything in the city ceased to function except the school. "Hey Shinji, any idea what's caused the blackout?" Kensuke inquired when the pilot of Eva Unit 01 was sat down.

"Um, no. Why would I know?" Shinji replied.

"Well, it's just that the entire city's power supply is routed through NERV. I thought you would know," Kensuke explained.

"I didn't know that the city's power was routed through NERV," Shinji said with a surprised expression upon his face. "How do you know?"

"I have my sources," Kensuke answered with a smug smile.

"His dad's laptop which he hacks into for fun," Toji remarked snidely.

"Hey!" snapped Kensuke.

"What? It's true," Toji said in his defence.

Classes that day were a bit more traditional than the students were used to. Instead of relying heavily on laptops, they had to revert to textbooks. While it wasn't anything new for the pupils, most of them weren't used to it and immediately found it boring and uninteresting. Asuka, on the other hand wasn't paying attention for different reasons. She couldn't stop thinking about the dream she had. She tried to decipher it and tried to find a meaning to it but in the end she couldn't come up with anything. Maybe it was just a dream that had no meaning at all but as of late, her dreams seemed to play an important role in regaining her lost memory. She couldn't tell if this was a memory or not and decided the best thing to do was to ask somebody about it. That somebody would be Shinji, the person she trusted most at this stage of her life.

At lunch time, Asuka sought Shinji out and found him on the roof of the school with Toji and Kensuke. "Hey guys," she said quietly.

"Hi Asuka," Shinji said.

"Hey," both Toji and Kensuke added.

"Shinji, can I speak to you for a second?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Shinji said, looking towards his two friends as if to ask permission.

"He's all yours," Toji said with a smile.

Shinji followed Asuka back into the building, wondering what the redhead had to say to him. "Asuka, what is it?" Shinji asked.

"It's nothing really…it's just that I've had this dream recently…about me in Unit 02 fighting some weird angels. I can't really remember how many there were…maybe about ten? Anyway, they're white and have really creepy heads…kind of reptilian. I was just wondering whether you or I have fought any angels like that because I don't remember," Asuka asked.

"We've never fought more than one angel at a time," Shinji answered. An uncomfortable silence descended over the two for a moment. Asuka pondered what her dream could mean. It could well possibly just mean nothing yet all of the dreams she had previously were all memories. "Well, thanks anyway Shinji," Asuka said.

"You been having a lot of dreams…haven't you?" Shinji asked nervously.

"Yeah," Asuka replied. "They all seem to mean something. That's why I asked you if you've ever fought any angels like the ones in my dream."

"Sorry I couldn't help," Shinji said.

"Nah, no worries," Asuka said with a weak smile. However, she couldn't hide the fact she was disappointed with her dream left unexplained.

Asuka left Shinji with his friends while she continued to wonder aimlessly through the school. She began to feel an odd sensation in her head as she walked. At first, she thought it was a head-rush of some sort but the feeling persisted. It became increasingly more intense and after a moment, it seemed like she to slip out of reality with colours blending together as she moved through the hallways. Nothing she did could shake the memories of that dream from her mind. It began to intoxicate her somewhat and all Asuka wanted was an answer, something to ease the confusion running amok in her head. She placed her hand on the wall and looked down at the ground with a sudden feeling of light-headedness.

"Asuka?"

The redhead looked up slowly, greeted with the sight of Rei Ayanami looking down at her. "Are you unwell?" she asked again.

"No…I'm fine," Asuka answered, standing up straight.

"You do not look fine," Rei pointed out.

Asuka stood for a moment before taking a deep breath. She exhaled slowly, regaining her composure from what seemed to be a freak panic attack. "I'm fine, it's okay," Asuka said.

"Very well," acknowledged Rei with a nod of her head. The blue haired girl then continued on her way without another word, which caught Asuka by surprise. "Rei, wait!" Asuka cried. Rei stopped, and turned to face her fellow Eva pilot. "I was meaning to ask you," Asuka began, "do you know anything about…white angels? They look like Eva units but with strange heads, like reptiles. I had a dream I was fighting many of them in my Eva."

"Dream?" Rei asked back with a confused look on her face.

Asuka was shocked at Rei's reaction. "Yeah. A dream."

"I don't think…I've ever had a dream," Rei explained.

"You've never had a dream before?" Asuka asked

"I don't believe so," Rei answered. "When I sleep, when people talk of dreams, I have nothing."

"I can't believe it," Asuka said. "Surely you must have?"

"No," Rei stated once again.

"Well…have you seen any angels like the ones I described?" Asuka said next, unable to hide her complete surprise at the fact that Rei Ayanami does not dream.

"Never," Rei replied. "We have never encountered more than one angel at once. There was the angel that split into two but I am told it was one single entity."

"I see," said Asuka, unhappy that nobody had an answer for her about her dream. "Well, thanks anyway Rei." The enigmatic pilot of Eva Unit 00 simply nodded her head before heading off to wherever she intended to go.

As Asuka headed for her locker for no apparent reason, she tried to fathom what it would feel like never having a dream. It seemed impossible however, for her life was dominated by dreams recently. While dreams for many seemed like an escape from reality, all Asuka wanted was to escape from her dreams. They were relentless, following her every footstep. While they weren't nightmares, they seemed to haunt her like they were. And what worried her even more was that she remembered them so vividly. While most people only recollected dreams in the most vague of terms, Asuka could remember individual details from hers. It was those details that affected her the most. It was the way she saw those menacing grins on those angel's faces. She couldn't stop thinking about it.

* * *

After lunch break was over, it was decided it would be best to send all the students home after there were many cases of pupil's fainting due to the air conditioning not being on. It was always very hot in Tokyo-3 and air conditioning was a necessity when staying indoors. Shinji and Asuka walked side by side as they usually did and Shinji had one earphone in, listening to his music but keeping one ear open in case they talked, which they usually did. However, Asuka was keeping quiet and Shinji realised it was always her that initiated conversation. Shinji was far from talkative and he found it difficult to freely socialise at the best of times.

"Hey Shinji," Asuka said, breaking the silence."

"Hmn?"

"What do dreams mean to you?" Asuka inquired.

"Dreams?" said Shinji. He looked ahead for a moment, pondering Asuka's question. He struggled to come up with a definitive answer, but he attempted to answer anyway. "They kind of…I don't know, they're just there at night. They take me away from reality I guess." Shinji turned to see if Asuka appeared satisfied with his answer. Her face remained solemn. "Why do you ask?" Shinji said.

"I don't know," Asuka replied. "My dreams have been getting to me lately."

"Really? Like that one you told me about today?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah," Asuka said. "And all the others. It's like my dreams aren't an escape from reality, but a new reality altogether and it's a reality I can't seem to get away from."

Shinji looked for words of comfort and reassurance but he was unable to find any. He was always trying so hard to deal with the problems he believed he had which caused him to not even think about what other people go through and while something like dreams may seem trivial, Shinji wanted to be able to help, especially since Asuka was becoming somewhat of a friend to him. "Shinji, has Rei ever talked to you about dreams?" Asuka asked next, out of the blue.

"Rei?" Shinji said. "Um, no. We don't really talk that much."

"She doesn't really talk that much I guess," Asuka conceded. "It's just that today, she told me she's never had a dream before."

"Never had a dream?" Shinji said in surprise. "How can…?"

"That's what I thought," Asuka interrupted. "Although these days I kind of wish I didn't dream either. I've had the same dream for a few nights in a row now and I just want to sleep without dreaming at all."

"Oh…" Shinji said. "I didn't know…they were bothering you that much."

Asuka sighed and said, "What can you do, eh? I'll just have to get on with life like normal."

"Not that life is that normal, with piloting Eva and all," Shinji muttered.

Asuka laughed and added, "Sure isn't, huh?"

The two arrived back at Misato's flat and went about their day doing homework. There still wasn't any running electricity so once it began to get dark, they lit some candles and began preparing dinner. "This is weird with no electricity," Asuka said.

"It's going to have to just be salad," Shinji pointed out.

"Really? That sucks!"

"Well, there's nothing to cook with since the power's still off."

"Doesn't Misato have a gas cooker used for camping?" Asuka asked.

"Huh? Well, she might," Shinji said.

"Well don't just stand there! Grab a torch and help me look!" Asuka said.

The two raided Misato's storage closet and found that Asuka was indeed correct; there was a portable gas cooker amongst all the clutter Misato had accumulated in her closet. With the services of the portable cooker, the two managed to prepare a meal rather more substantial than salad. "Aren't you glad I thought of using the gas cooker?" Asuka gloated.

"Yes, I am," Shinji said with a weak smile. "It sure beats having to eat salad I guess." Asuka laughed and the two continued eating.

"Hey Shinji, eating by candlelight, it sure creates a nice mood, huh?" Asuka asked.

"Mood?" Shinji said, unaware of the connotations of the word used in that context.

"You know, like a candlelit dinner for two?" Asuka explained.

"Um…I'm not sure what you mean," Shinji pointed out.

"Idiot! Like a romantic meal! Have you lived in a box all your life?" Asuka exclaimed whilst laughing.

"Romantic…you think this is romantic?" Shinji asked with his face going rather red.

"Well…it just kind of fits the description without actually being a romantic meal!" Asuka answered. "Jeez, you had me explain it and everything!"

"Sorry," Shinji said.

"Don't worry about it!" Asuka said with a smile. "You know, I'm feeling happier since this afternoon. Thanks Shinji."

"Um…no problem, although I don't know what I did."

"I don't know, just us having fun cooking and stuff I guess. It's better than worrying about stupid dreams," Asuka said.

"I guess so," Shinji said.

At that moment, they heard the front door opening and in walked Misato. "What's this? A candlelit dinner for two?" she asked.

"See what I mean?" Asuka said to Shinji with a smile.

"Welcome back Misato," Shinji said.

"Hi you two," Misato said. "Good to see the blackout hasn't driven you too far into the dark ages, so to speak," she added, looking at the gas cooker.

"How are things at NERV?" Asuka asked.

"It's horrendous in there. There's no air conditioning and it's so hot and stuffy! I feel like I'm in an oven in there!" Misato replied. "Still, it could have been worse. There could have been an angel attack."

At that precise moment, Misato's mobile phone began to ring. "You can get reception?" Asuka asked in surprise.

"We have a communications jet circling the city in case of emergency. Let me take this," Misato said. Shinji and Asuka looked at each other, knowing that when Misato referred to an 'emergency', it could only mean one thing. "I think you know what we have to do," Misato said when she was done over the phone. "Come on, let's go." Asuka and Shinji left their meals unfinished, blew out the candles and followed Misato out the door. It was eerie for the two pilots, walking though the block of apartments and not seeing a single light on. It looked like they were in for a battle in the middle of a blackout.

* * *

After picking Rei up, Misato and the three pilots arrived in NERV headquarters. "How are we going to launch the Eva's with no power?" Shinji asked.

"It's simple," Ritsuko replied. "You don't."

"You don't?" said Asuka.

"Correct," Ritsuko. "Work is being done to fit the Evas with external battery packs. After that, we'll have to manually undo all the locks and bolts. From then on, you'll have to climb out of the emergency maintenance shaft."

"How long will the battery packs give us?" Asuka asked.

"About ten minutes at minimum usage," Ritsuko answered. "So about 5 minutes at full battle capability."

"That means you'll have to deal with this quickly," Misato added. "The angel is currently closing in on Tokyo-3. I want you to deal with it quickly and decisively."

"Easier said than done," Ritsuko noted.

"We don't really have a choice now, do we?" Misato shot back. "Okay you three. Suit up. We need to get you up on the surface ASAP."

Once the pilots suited up, they watched as the majority of NERV's workforce was engaged in manual labour in order to get the entry plugs into place for the pilots. Shinji was surprised to see his father amongst those helping the cause. "See Shinji, even the commander, your father, is helping to get you guys out there," Misato said. "Maybe your dad isn't such a bad guy."

"I don't know," Shinji said with a sigh. "Now isn't really the time to think about it."

"Right," Misato agreed. "Good luck Shinji. And look after Asuka out there. I don't want any repeats of that last harrowing incident."

"Okay," said Shinji with a determined nod of his head. "Let's do this."

The launching on the Evas could only really be described as crude at best. The pilots even had to push some of the restraints out of the way to get out. As soon as they were free, they had to crawl through a tunnel designed for large trucks which was eating up the time they had to hand. If they were to get up to the surface to form an effective resistance, they had to hurry. Once they reached the maintenance tunnel, the three pilots had to claw their way up the sides which was a slow and ungainly process. "5 minutes of power remaining," Rei reported, leading up the rear of the pack.

"Life sucks without electricity," Asuka muttered.

After an agonising minute, they were on the surface. It quickly became apparent that this battle would be much more difficult than initially imagined. "I can't see a thing!" Asuka cried, having just emerged in the dead of night in a city with no electricity.

"Switch to light amplifying night-vision," Rei advised.

"Gotcha," Asuka said.

"Switching to night vision," Shinji added.

Just as the pilots were getting to grips with their surroundings, the angel struck. "AAH! My arm!" Shinji cried.

"Some kind of projectile just struck Unit 01's left shoulder!" Maya reported.

"It's burning me!" Shinji cried.

"Fire?" Misato asked.

"No, something different," Ritsuko pointed out. "It's more like…acid corrosion."

"Rapid disintegration at Unit 01's shoulder joint! Oh no…it's falling off!" Maya cried.

Misato turned around to face Maya in disbelief and exclaimed, "What?!"

Asuka watched in horror as Unit 01's entire left arm simply fell off the body of the Eva. The sight of it alone was enough to make her feel sick. Shinji's screams of pain didn't help either. "Where is that damn angel?!" Asuka roared.

"Target located. Heat signature to the north-east," Rei said.

"I see it," Asuka said after about facing her Eva. The heat signature of the Eva stood out very plainly now that Rei had pointed it out. It resembled a giant spider-like creature with long, thin legs that had its joint far above the angel's body. "You're dead," Asuka said. She drew her prog knife and ran straight for the angel. "Rei, covering fire!" Asuka yelled. Unit 00 raised its rifle and fired several bursts at the angel. Incredibly, the rounds were cutting the angel to bits. It didn't to appear to have an AT field at all and if it did, it was an incredibly weak one.

However, that didn't mean to angel was giving up. Instead, it fired a cyst of acid straight at Eva Unit 02. Asuka barely saw it in time and ducked. The acid caught on of her battery packs, immediately rendering it useless. "Asuka, your battery time has gone from 3 minutes to 1 minute, 40 seconds!" Misato cried. The redhead didn't reply and simply focused herself on killing her target. The angel fired another blast of acid. This time, Asuka was too close to dodge and it caught her Eva right in the chest plate. "AAAGH!" she cried and she drove her knife right into the body of the angel. She could feel her chest burning as she tried to end the angel's existence. The feeling was agonising but she knew she had to fight through it. "DIE!" she cried as she pulled her knife across, literally splitting the angel's body into two. At this point, all of Unit 02's chest armour had disintegrated, baring its core for all to see. None of it mattered though. The angel was dead and the victory was theirs.

* * *

Asuka soon found herself in the hospital wing of NERV, being treated for minor burns on her chest. Shinji however, had suffered third degree burns in his left shoulder where the angel had struck his Eva and was currently receiving a skin graft. "Are you alright, Asuka?" Misato asked.

"I'm fine. It's Shinji I'm worried about," replied Asuka.

"He'll pull through," Misato said with a smile. "You did well today, Asuka. I'm proud of you."

"Is Shinji seriously hurt? I just want to know about him," Asuka said.

"He received third degree burns on his left shoulder," Misato replied. "Doctors a performing a state of the art skin graft technique, something only perfected several months ago. You'll be able to speak to him in a couple of hours."

"Okay," Asuka said, exhaling loudly. "Why did the angel's attack hurt him so much? That isn't meant to happen right?"

"You feel the pain the Eva goes through, it's true," Misato answered, "but recently, we've seen that you pilots are getting the injuries transferred to themselves and Ritsuko and her team are trying to find out why it's happening. I don't like it one bit. It makes piloting Eva a lot more dangerous than it already is. The quicker we find out about it, the better." Asuka slowly nodded her head and frowned. "Can you just get me when Shinji wakes up please?" the redhead asked.

"Sure," Misato said before taking her leave.

Asuka wondered why she felt the way she did. After she saw what the angel did to Shinji's Eva, she became incandescent with rage. All she wanted to do was to destroy the angel. She wanted to watch it die by her hand. It almost seemed instinctual to her. While they were meant to get rid of the angels, Asuka didn't think she'd do it by giving herself up to killer instinct. What was it about seeing Shinji's Eva lose its arm? As Asuka sat, diving deeper into her mind, she realised something about instinct. The instincts of fight or flight are brought about by fear. Asuka felt some kind of fear that caused her to fight. Was it the fear of seeing Shinji in pain or even the fear of losing him altogether?

The hours passed away with Asuka having lost all concept of time. She simply lay in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. Her mind was flooded with unfamiliar images and thoughts. She couldn't quite grasp what they were about, however and she was in no mood to try and contemplate them. _What is going on in this head of mine?_ Asuka asked herself. There was no point trying to figure it out however, as she was in the same state of mind she was earlier that day when she was wondering aimlessly through the school. "Hey Asuka," said Misato, who entered the room. "Shinji's operation is done. He's not up yet but you can go see him." Asuka simply got up out of bed and walked past Misato, leaving the NERV operations officer bemused as to how Asuka's mood could have changed so drastically.

Asuka entered the ward where Shinji was and found him sleeping with a set of bandages around his left shoulder. She didn't know why she wanted to see him so badly but found no satisfaction being here now. She didn't know why she got so worked up when she saw his Eva get attacked. Maybe it was instinct, maybe it wasn't. All Asuka knew was that she was here now. She took a seat besides Shinji's bed and placed her hand on his. While she received no comfort from this whatsoever, she would stay with him until he woke up, all the while contending with what was going on in her head at the moment. Something was up with her and she wanted to know what.


	8. Two Become One

8. Two Become One

**Author's Note: Yes, I know it's been ages since I last updated. Yes, I know I'm bloody useless at absolutely everything ever. To compound that ueslessness, this release is probably strewn with errors because I haven't proof read it. Unfortunately, you'll have to deal with it as I am too tired to function properly at the moment. Hope you enjoy nonetheless!**

* * *

Ritsuko Akagi sipped at her coffee before lighting yet another cigarette. Her ashtray was filled with the butts from an afternoon of chain smoking. The air in her office stank strongly of the smoke but it was an atmosphere the good doctor usually found herself in. She took a long draw before exhaling above her. Putting the cigarette into her mouth for the time being, she typed in several commands into her computer and studied the results that appeared in front of her. She then reached for the medical report from NERV's hospital unit on the injuries sustained to Shinji during their last incursion. He had been the recipient of an experimental skin graft which appeared to have worked wonders and appeared very much less messy than a traditionally performed graft. That was not what concerned her, however happy she was that Shinji will only have light scars on shoulder. It was how he managed to physically sustain that injury. His synch ratio at the time wasn't high enough to that to happen according to every piece of data they had on the subject, yet it was happening anyway and very often. It had happened to Asuka as well and Ritsuko was yet to find a cause.

The past few months were filled with strange incidents, a lot of them involving Asuka. She had completed that test she had originally intended to perform before the earthquake and the battle with the angel that somehow managed to exist in a volcano. It turned out that nothing was different about Asuka's brain activity during sleep. It was just normal REM activity and on top of that, she had a completely clean bill of health. Nothing was making sense but at least she had one thing to look forward to. After her shift, she'd be drinking with Misato and Kaji, just like old times. She also suspected that they announce that they were getting back together. She smiled, thinking to herself that it really was like the old days.

As she continued to analyse the data, there was a tap on her door. Ritsuko turned around to see Maya Ibuki standing in her doorway. "Hi, I got your text and I ran the data through the MAGI," Maya said, handing Ritsuko a folder.

"Thanks," Ritsuko said. "What were the results from the MAGI?"

"It doesn't even notice that there is an anomaly," Maya replied.

"What? That's odd," Ritsuko noted. "We ran tests on the Eva's and all the data from them was the same but everything about synchronisation ratio related pilot injury doesn't match up at all."

"None of this makes sense to me, either," Maya added. "But if the MAGI don't realise that there's something wrong, then I don't know what to turn to."

"We're going to have to figure this out the hard way, it seems," Ritsuko said. "Anyway, I need a break from this for a bit. Could you man my terminal for a bit if you're not busy?"

"Sure," Maya said. Ritsuko took her leave while Maya worked on Ritsuko's laptop. "Gosh, it really stinks of smoke in here," she noted. "Maybe Dr Akagi needs to cut back."

* * *

Kaji pressed a button on the vending machine, waiting for his canned coffee to come out. While he took his first sip, Asuka walked into the same area as him, which prompted a smile from the man. "Hi Asuka," he said.

"Hey Kaji," Asuka answered with a weak smile.

"How are you? Are you okay? That was a rough fight last night," Kaji inquired.

"I feel…drained, I guess," Asuka said. "I didn't sleep too well last night and school seemed to take forever."

"I see," Kaji said. "I take it you're here to see Shinji?"

"Yeah. He slept all last night so I didn't get to speak to him," Asuka explained.

"That's probably why you're tired," Kaji chuckled. "You seem pretty close to him these days."

"Well, he's my friend," Asuka noted, "and he's going through exactly the same things I am."

"What about Rei?" Kaji asked. "How do you get on with her?"

"I have no problem with her and she did help save my life," Asuka replied. "Although something…I don't know what it is…something in my head's telling me that I shouldn't like her."

"Shouldn't you?" Kaji asked.

"That's the feeling I get. But I ignore it for the most part. I saw hello to her whenever I see her but I don't think she's the conversational type," Asuka noted.

"Fair enough," Kaji said. "How are you dealing with amnesia?"

Asuka smiled, "I'd forgotten I had it."

Kaji laughed at Asuka's remark, noting that she had a wit about her that was in the place of what usually had been arrogance. There was no denying that her personality was changing in light of her lost memories. However, Kaji noted that smile of hers quickly faded away. She cut a worried figure that teetered on the edge. It was a recent change, probably brought upon the recent Eva battles and the damage it had caused Shinji. And because she had become closer to him in recent times, she was definitely hurting seeing her friend going through an experimental skin graft. Kaji didn't envy anybody the task that was placed on the shoulders of these 14 year old kids.

"Here, let me get you something," Kaji said, inserting more money in the vending machine. "What will it be?"

"_Orangensaft_," Asuka replied, unknowingly in German.

"Huh?" Kaji said.

"I said orange juice," Asuka pointed out.

"Well, you sure didn't say that," Kaji said with a chuckle, pressing the appropriate button on the vending machine. "Were you speaking German?"

"Was I?" Asuka asked with a confused look on her face. "I was sure if I even remembered how to speak German."

"You can and maybe, just maybe it's the memories slowly coming back," Kaji speculated while rubbing his rough, unshaven chin.

"Do you really think that?" Asuka asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

"Maybe," Kaji replied before handing the carton of orange juice over to the Eva pilot. "Only time will tell."

"Time sucks," Asuka said, taking a sip of her beverage.

"We all learn to hate it somehow," Kaji agreed with a sigh.

* * *

"I wish that you would all just go away," said Asuka, staring at Shinji, Rei, Misato, Kaji, Ritsuko as well as the commanders and the senior computer technicians at NERV. She watched them as they stayed still, unmoving. They stared at her with blank, cold eyes. Those eyes cut through her. It was like they could see down to her soul. She was naked. Her outer shell had been peeled away and exposed was the soft, fleshy fruit; the very essence of her being. It was something she didn't want anybody to see.

"I SAID GO AWAY!" Asuka screamed as loudly as her body allowed, her voice cracking as she did. Suddenly, everyone began to slowly fade from sight, leaving Asuka alone in the darkness. Then, Asuka realised another of her fears. While she feared being exposed, she feared being abandoned just as much. "Wait!" she cried. "Don't leave me! I…I didn't mean what I said!"

"You push people away with your arrogance," said Shinji from behind her.

Asuka snapped around. Shinji wasn't there.

"Yet you crave their attention," added Rei who was standing in Shinji's place.

"What do you want from me?" Asuka yelled.

"Recognition from others makes you feel good about yourself," Shinji said.

"But as soon as they get close, you push them away," Rei said.

"That…that isn't me!" Asuka cried, suddenly feeling completely out of place in her own body.

"Oh, it isn't?" Rei asked.

"Maybe you don't…remember," Shinji pointed out with a haunting smile.

"I don't…remember?" Asuka said, horrified at what these two were telling her.

* * *

Asuka opened her eyes and found a magazine lying over her face. She pulled it off her face and found herself in Shinji's ward. She had fallen asleep reading some teenage culture magazine. Shinji was still asleep. He must have been under a very strong sedative to keep him unconscious for as long as possible as the nurses had informed them that there was the possibly that Shinji would feel excruciating pain as soon as he woke up as a result of the experimental treatment. The other, more pleasant, alternative was that Shinji simply took time to get rid of the feeling that he was missing part of his shoulder. If the option were the former, then it was a good thing that he was kept sedated through the worst of the pain.

Which left Asuka alone with her thoughts once again. She was glad that she woke up because the dream she was having was horrible. The Shinji and the Rei in the dream were absolutely picking her apart, yet Asuka didn't understand why. Surely she wasn't the person that they said she was in her dreams? The person they so vividly described sounded so damaged, so vulnerable. Asuka wasn't in the best of fettles but she sure didn't feel that low. Which led to the next point brought up in her dream; maybe it was her, she just didn't remember and had changed as a result. She had overheard Misato and Kaji talk about changes in behaviour ever since she had gotten amnesia. If the person described to her in her dream was the real Asuka, then she was afraid to go back to being her.

The redhead stood up and walked up to Shinji's bed where her fellow Eva pilot lay dormant. She hoped for his sake that when he did wake up, it would be a fairly painless experience. She couldn't bear to hear Shinji's screams again. Not only did they all too graphically show the physical pain he was going through, they showed hits of a deeper anguish, as if something was already hurting him from the inside. Maybe it was Shinji's father, maybe it was because he resented having to pilot the Eva, Asuka didn't know. One thing she was certain of was that she did not want to have to hear him scream again.

After about an hour of waiting and reading, Shinji finally woke up and thankfully, his pain was bearable. "It feels like…I don't know, like a light cramp," Shinji said to the attending doctor.

"That's good," the doctor said. "It means that the procedure went well. I'm happy to discharge you with some painkillers if you're feeling up to it."

"I think I can," Shinji said.

"Okay then. Also, you should thank your friend. She's been waiting for you to wake up," the doctor added with a smile before taking his leave.

"Asuka?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, I was here," she replied with a weak smile. "And last night."

"Thanks," Shinji said. "How long has it been since…?"

"Just one night," Asuka replied. "That's some miracle surgery they did on you."

"It feels weird," Shinji noted.

"I thought it hurt," Asuka said.

"Yeah, that, but something is up with it…it's like it doesn't belong or something," Shinji said.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it once it heals," Asuka said. "Anyway, you must be starving. How about we get you out of here and get something to eat?"

"Sounds good," Shinji said, managing a weak smile.

The two ventured into the NERV cafeteria which somehow managed to provide above average food, making it a convenient pit stop before Shinji returned back to Misato's flat. After grabbing the most appetising looking things on the menu, they were about to take their seats when they noticed Rei sitting out on her own. She was slowly nibbling on a sandwich and reading a book. Shinji and Asuka looked at each other before moving to sit by her. "Hi," Asuka said as the two of them joined their fellow pilot at the table.

Rei looked up from her book and quietly said, "Hello." She then glanced across to Shinji after acknowledging Asuka's greeting and asked, "Are you well, Shinji?"

"Apart from feeling hungry, I'm fine," Shinji replied with a smile. "Thanks for asking."

Rei nodded before descending back into her book. Asuka wondered whether she was just cold by nature. It appeared that way, anyway, a she did ask about Shinji's wellbeing. Maybe she was just that kind of person. "Anyway, what were you doing in HQ on your own?" Asuka inquired, hoping that she could get some conversation out of the blue haired conundrum of a person.

"I was…seeing the commander," Rei replied without looking up.

Shinji's eyes perked up from his plate upon hearing those words. His relationship with his father wasn't help with his apparent preference of Rei over his own son, something he couldn't understand. However, it was a fact that Asuka wasn't quite aware of in her state of mind after losing her memory, causing her mouth to be looser than taster would allow. "How the commander doesn't visit his son in the hospital yet still makes time to see you? He sounds like a horrible father," Asuka said without thinking.

Shinji sighed and said, "That's just how he is."

Asuka, unsatisfied, turned to Rei and asked, "You just let this happen? You don't think it's wrong that he neglects his son while he panders over you?"

"I…I think I understand the significance of this but I am not in a position to act upon any perceived wrongdoings," Rei answered, looking visibly flustered.

"Perceived wrongdoings?" Asuka exclaimed, suddenly getting angry. "What is up with you? You'll follow his orders to the letter, won't you?! You're a doll!"

By the end of her outburst, she was standing and several NERV staff members were all staring at her. As soon as Asuka realised what she had said, it was all too clear that it was too late and the impact of her words had hit home, hard. "What's wrong with you, Asuka?" Shinji asked, stunned by her outburst.

"I…I don't know what's gotten over me," Asuka said, her voice almost a whisper. "What's…what's going on?"

_You know exactly what's going on._

"Who's there?!" Asuka cried.

"What? There's nobody there!" Shinji said, standing up, trying to help the suddenly delusional redhead.

_You know who this is._

"Go away!" Asuka screamed, clutching her head.

"Rei, I think we need a doctor," Shinji said. Rei nodded and went to the nearest NERV staff member while the inside of Asuka's head quickly became a much more turbulent place.

_Look at Rei. Doesn't she make you sick? Doesn't the very thought of her make you angry? Doesn't the very mentioning of her name boil your blood?_

"Please…go away," Asuka whimpered while Shinji wrapped his hands around her.

_She's a doll. You've known that all along. A worthless doll. All she does is follows orders. A doll. A puppet._

"She's soaked through with sweat!" Shinji cried.

"I'm a medical orderly," said a NERV staff member. "Get her in the recovery position until a stretcher arrives."

"All right," Shinji said.

_Let the world know she's a doll. They need to know. They need to know that she's the doll and you're the person that's worth something. You're worth something. All your life you've needed to prove you're worth something. You've tried but they never seem to notice._

"No," Asuka whispered, her eyes wide open and staring into the space in front of her.

_They never notice what you're worth. Maybe it's because…_

"No," Asuka whispered once more.

_You're worthless._

"AAAAAAGH!" Asuka screamed at the top of the voice, literally leaping off of the stretcher that she was being carried on.

"Restrain her!" one of the paramedics cried. "Hold her arms!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Shinji, as he watched in horror.

"Hell if I know, kid!" the paramedic cried.

"She's not breathing!" the medical orderly that called the paramedics exclaimed. "No pulse either."

"You mean she's gone into cardiac arrest?" the paramedic asked, stunned. One second ago, she had be fighting and flailing. Now, her heart ceased beating. "Get her back on that stretcher, stat! Let's move it!"

"Can't you start her heart with CPR or something?" Shinji asked desperately.

"Not likely. We need a defibrillator!" the paramedic said before almost running with the stretcher. Both Shinji and Rei both followed, wondering what they just witnessed.

* * *

Misato stood at the end of Asuka's bed with Shinji and Rei either side of her. Ritsuko stood to the left of the bed with her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. None of them could say a word.

"The reasons for her falling into this coma are beyond all of us," the doctor explained. "Once we got her heart started again, she was unable to regain consciousness."

"Her medical records show no history of heart problems yet she's fallen into cardiac arrest twice in the space of months," Ritsuko noted. "The initial incident was unexplained and she walked away with a clean bill of health."

"Her records only show psychological counselling when she was younger but no other health issues. That surely an insignificant factor," the doctor thought aloud.

"Pursue all avenues," Misato ordered. "We're short one pilot until you figure out what's wrong with her and you can make her better."

The words 'psychological counselling' perked Shinji's attention. He wondered whether it was to do with losing her mother. She didn't speak about it, much like he kept any personal details about his mother to himself or rather, he knew very little of them thanks to his father. Still, this whole incident with Asuka seemed too far-fetched to be actually happening. People don't just collapse and go into cardiac arrest. Surely there must be something the doctors weren't letting on and it those cases, it usually was something serious and often fatal. Shinji hoped that for Asuka's sake at least that his presumptions were incorrect.

"The medical team here will do our best to try and wake her up from her coma. However, the circumstances are unique and we're not really sure where to start," the doctor said.

"Just do whatever you can," Misato said, who appeared uneasy. She, like Shinji, feared the worst for Asuka. She had been informed of the outburst and it seemed out of character for the Asuka that they've come to accept. This was the Asuka that had little recollection of who she actually was. "Do you think she'll be okay?" Shinji asked Misato.

She feigned a smile and said, "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a tough one."

"I hope so," Shinji said, glancing back towards Asuka's lifeless body.

* * *

Maya Ibuki was astonished at some of the results she was looking at. On a hunch, she ran the original data combined with new data from Asuka collected from the hospital through the MAGI. After performing incredibly complex calculations in the space of microseconds, Maya was left with something that was contradictory yet profound. She sat back, no longer able to smell the stench of cigarette smoke, not knowing how to take it all in.

"Hello Maya," Ritsuko said, entering unannounced. "Any new findings?"

"Um, I think so," Maya replied.

"Care to expand on that?" Ritsuko said.

"Well, according to the MAGI, Asuka is not Asuka, yet she is, at the same time," Maya explained nervously.

"What? Let me look at that!" Ritsuko said. "On what basis did the MAGI come to this conclusion?"

"Her brainwaves, basic thought processes, they all showed variations between two definite patterns. After her incident in the cafeteria, these variations became even more pronounced," Maya answered.

"You're right. There are two well defined spreads. The MAGI went for the logical answer in saying she is two people in one," Ritsuko agreed. "This is...astonishing. I mean, this doesn't answer anything but it's intriguing on its own."

"You have no idea what this could mean?" Maya asked.

"Well, we have a starting point," Ritsuko said. "If we take the data we've collected while she was dreaming and had those incidents in Unit 02 and try to match them to a spread of this new data..."

Ritsuko furiously typed streams of code into her console before slamming the enter key and was immediately given an analysis from the MAGI. "See this?" Ritsuko asked.

"Incredible," Maya said.

"All the incidents, her dreams, they are all linked with one spread of this new data. The other spread of data in her thought processes and brain activity must be her concious and current self. She is two well defined individuals in one body. They are both Asuka, but different Asukas," Ritsuko theorised.

"So everything was caused by this other Asuka, you're saying?" Maya asked.

"We can only speculate," Ritsuko replied. "But I think we want to dive into her subconscious to try and extract this other Asuka because it seems to want to escape and has tried to do so."

"This all sounds so ludicrous. I mean, two people in one? That's really strange, right?"

"It's impossible. We're all one person, we may sway here and there in points of view and thoughts but something like this just isn't possible. This isn't a coincidence. We have to look into this."

* * *

"Electroshock therapy?!" Misato exclaimed. "Sorry for being blunt, but are you out of your fucking mind?"

"We need to unlock this other Asuka," Ritsuko said. "These incidents are no coincidence; this other Asuka is trying to escape."

"Ritsuko, the girl is in a coma. A _coma_. Her heart stopped just three hours ago and you're thinking of cutting her skull open to directly apply electrical shocks to her brain?! Sorry for being less than cooperative!" Misato cried. "You could turn her into a vegetable!"

Ritsuko blew a sigh of frustration before leaving the ward. She knew some semblance of an answer lay within this girl's mind but now she had an ethical barrier in the form of Misato. The doctor retreated back to her office and tried a different approach with the MAGI to get more relevant data, this time looking into possible causes. Ritsuko quickly scanned the output and quietly read the results out to herself.

"Two causes found. One highly improbable, other improbable. Highly improbable: subject is the biological joining of two separate conciousness. Highly improbable because there is no known cases of such a joining and no evidence that such a joining is physically possible. Improbable: space-time rupture due to crossing of parallel universes..."

Ritsuko blinked when she read that last statement and took a moment to collect her thoughts before reading on. "Unusual events outside of subject and two separate people in one could imply crossed parallel universes centred at subject, resulting in space-time rupture. Improbable as multi-verse theory is unproven and current theory of general relativity does not predict such space-time ruptures to be possible." Ritsuko got out her seat and headed straight for the commander's office.

* * *

"You want me to temporarily relieve Captain Katsuragi of her command?" Gendo Ikari inquired harshly.

"She is providing an obstacle on this procedure based on emotional attachments. I have a scientific basis to go on," Ritsuko explained.

"The cause from the MAGI is merely speculation, doctor. You simply cannot jump to such a conclusion based on instinct," Gendo rebutted.

"Not to mention that you risk putting one of our pilots out of commission," Fuyutsuki added. "A pilot that is very difficult to replace."

"I know it all sounds a bit stretched but along with the data from her brain activity, I think we may unlock something that is potentially valuable. This other Asuka may possess information we could use," Ritsuko said. "Especially if the MAGI is right in saying she is from a parallel universe."

Gendo and Fuyutsuki looked at each other for a moment, considering their options. Gendo then faced the doctor and said, "Very well Dr Akagi. You have 48 hours. No more than that. In the event of an angel attack, Captain Katsuragi will regain her authority regardless of what stage your procedure is at. Understood?"

"Yes commander," Ritsuko said before rushing off to begin preparations.

* * *

The best neurosurgeons Japan had to offer were in NERV HQ within 6 hours and an operation theatre was prepared in 2. Ritsuko wasted no time getting what she needed as soon as she had the go ahead from the top. "I hope you know what you're doing," Misato said to Ritsuko as the doctor was about to enter the operation theatre to oversee the procedure. Ritsuko nodded before entering, hoping that all events would conspire to serve her and prove her theories. Otherwise, she would either kill a young girl or leave her to a life of mental disability. The risks were severe, especially for such an experimental procedure but she had long convinced herself that the ends justified the means.

The mood in the theatre was tense. Ritsuko watched nervously as the surgeons cut into Asuka's skull to expose her brain. And to think this was the routine part of the operation. Once the brain was exposed, came the part where anything and everything could go wrong. Two electrodes would be placed at strategic locations on the brain surface before an electric current was induced, hopefully waking up the subconscious mind of the patient. It worked in theory, but in practice was incredibly complex. If the surgeon missed the vital spots by a millimetre, nothing would happen at all. If he missed by two, he could turn Asuka into a vegetable. The margin of error was minuscule. The cost of a mistake was huge. And there was also no way of telling with Asuka asleep.

"Okay, placing electrodes on the surface of the brain," the head surgeon said. He wasn't doing it by hand but with the aid of a machine. That way, they could make adjustments on the micron scale if necessary. After fifteen minutes of the most minute adjustments, the surgeons glanced at each other before looking towards Ritsuko for the go ahead. She nodded nervously, hoping that this gamble would pay. "Okay, we're about to induce a current in the brain," the head surgeon. "Has anaesthetic been applied to her head in case she wakes ups?"

The other doctors nodded. "Okay then," the head surgeons said before blowing a breath of trepidation. "Here we go. Inducing a current."

He pressed a button on the machine. Nothing happened for a few seconds. The entire theatre was dead silent apart from the regular beeping of the monitoring equipment. Ritsuko was about to ask what happened before Asuka gasped for air and snapped immediately back into conciousness. Her eyes began frantically looking everywhere around the room and she began sweating, indicating she was in extreme shock. However, no sedatives could be given just yet. "Quickly, get a brain activity read out from the MAGI!" Ritsuko ordered. An orderly quickly got a print out and handed out to Ritsuko. She smiled upon seeing the result before quickly turning her attention to Asuka.

"Where...where am I?!" Asuka said, beginning to hyperventilate.

"All will be explained in due time, Asuka. I just need you to calm down and answer a few questions," Ritsuko said. "Do you remember being told about having amnesia?"

"Amnesia? No!" Asuka cried. "Just tell me where I am!"

"Calm down, Asuka," Ritsuko said. "Describe the last angel you fought."

"I...I fought the Eva series, they...they killed me," Asuka replied. "I think...I can't think straight...my head is killing me."

"The Eva series?" Ritsuko wondered out loud. "Incredible. Doctor, give her a sedative."

At the exact moment, alarms began blaring all around the base. Another angel attack. Thankfully for Ritsuko Akagi, she knew everything she needed to know. They had an Asuka who knew about things that hadn't even happened yet. It seemed the MAGI were right, although now the priority was fending off the angel before Ritsuko could get more answers to the hundreds of questions that were already formulating in her head.


End file.
